Quantcast
Channel: Benjamin Solah » events
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

A taste of Melbourne poetry ten years ago

0
0

Last night, in a tightly packed upstairs room at Palookaville on Brunswick Street, this newbie spoken word artist was treated to a bit of Melbourne poetry scene history. The Class of 99 was a selection of the Melbourne scene more than ten years ago that gave birth to the Overload Poetry Festival.

OverloadI wish more of the newer poets were there to get a bit of inspiration and perhaps feed on the nostalgia. I could feel it myself even though I’d never been there when it first happened. Old friends came back into the fold for one night, remembering the readings and the people not with them anymore to remember.

I learnt that more than ten years ago there was at least one poetry reading a night in Melbourne, sometimes more, and there were a heap of paid gigs, ones paid for by the bar. Melbourne poetry, though still strong, seems nothing like what it used to be. And perhaps qualitative too. I guess there needs to be the talent and the enthusiasm to fill so many readings. I could see from just a taste of 99 that there was talent.

There were poets like Angela Costi, Melissa Petrakis, and Clint Greagen. I’d never seen them before. Others, I’d seen here and there. It made me wonder why those that obviously still had talent had left. They still seemed to love it so much. From the introductions and from discussion with Maxine Clarke, it seems that life, marriage, kids and all that took priority and poetry kind of fell away, which is both understandable and sad. We should see more of these poets again, even on occasion. But I feel like Melbourne poetry is missing this depth of quality that would enrich open mics around the city on most nights of the week.

We do have talent now though, and those committed to Melbourne poetry. But it took people like Steve Smart and the late, Sandon Mcleod to step up and get things running. Someone starting something else now, I think, would not be unwelcome.



Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images