I meant to post this earlier in the week but as usual got sidetracked with other things! On Wednesday I went to hear poets Amelia Walker and Mike Ladd read at the monthly Words@Wall poetry evening organised by Friendly Street Poets.

brick wall

 

I was not familiar with Amelia’s work, however her performance was simply captivating.  She read extracts from a sequence she wrote while living in the Netherlands that told of her life when she first moved with her partner, the integration required and a degree of isolation, albeit loneliness, as a result. Amelia was mesmerizing, giving a very personal account that was highly entertaining but also very poignant.

Mike I remember from his interview of Mark Tredinnick at this years Writer’s Festival, aswell as from his regular stint on ABC’s Poetica program. Mike read from his new collection of poems Adelaide, published by Garron Publishing (yes, a copy was purchased!), which give beautiful accounts of specific aspects of Adelaide life. My favorite was A Snowflake in an Adelaide Schoolyard, describing “a day when you could see the trees’ secrets” and then it arrives, lending itself to different interpretations and questionable doubt.

It was great catching up with poet friends too – Jennifer Liston, Louise Nicholas and Nigel Ford – so I have already marked the next one in the diary, and looking forward to it.