Elevensies – a new poetic form

This unique, intriguing form is pioneered by Australian poet Kerri Shying (created by another Aussie poet, Kit Kelen, in conversation with Kerri). She is eager for other poets to try it.

See my article about it at Poets and Storytellers United, with some examples of Kerri's elevensies, here. 

And for my own first attempts, click this link.

Poetry on Video

Oh,  how exciting that Poets Out Loud, our local group started by the enterprising performance poet Sarah Temporal, is now happening via Zoom. It's on the third Thursday of the month, 7-9pm Sydney time. Details at their facebook page.

Tonight we not only had interstate poets as well as locals participating, we also had international poets, one from Sri Lanka and two from the USA.

We get used to visual applause (waving our hands in the air) and having little chats via text behind the scenes. What we lose of the energy of a live performance – I mean with everyone at the same venue – we make up for in the intimacy of close-ups, and the convenience of being able to meet, and even travel far to do so, while staying in our own homes.

Sarah is still doing the hosting, with her usual warmth and efficiency. At any event that she runs, you know instantly that you're among friends.

We are allowed to include stories, so this time I read a short piece of autobiography that fitted within the 3-minute time allotment. Afterwards, I was thrilled when someone described it in text as 'beautiful poetic prose'.

Similar initiatives have been started all over the world since the pandemic began. Many people are planning virtual book launches on video too, and some of us are attending virtual writing workshops.

Yay, poets rock!

A Poet in the Pandemic

Luckily I'm mostly an online poet. Social distancing is not required on social media.

All the usual poetry groups and communities are still operating. Currently I'm mostly at Poets and Storytellers United, for the very good reason that I'm officially its Coordinator these days – albeit with a wonderful, smooth-running, no-fuss team who don't need a lot of coordinating. I occasionally look at what's happening at dVerse; and I'm thrilled that the archived imaginary garden with real toads is reactivating temporarily, with daily prompts for the 'poetry month' of April.

Then there are the facebook groups. I belong to several, specifically  haiku and tanka.

Above all there are my own poetry blogs where I share the latest work – which you'll find under the tab My Poetry Blogs at the top of the page. 


And what about the 'real-life' writing workshops?

I'm planning to start conducting them via Zoom, which I'm told is easy – after we get past Easter and the school holidays.