10 Questions

Q. Why do you write Poetry?

A. I love the characters I meet and interesting sights I see. Life is one big exciting experience. I try to embrace all of it from the funny and trivial events through to complex and tragic. I hold a 'wonder' for life that has been part of me for as long as I can remember.
To be able to record these experiences and share them with others is a bonus!

Q. Did you write Poetry as a child?

A. No. I was an outdoors kid, more inclined to be kicking a footy, catching yabbies (crayfish), or getting up to some sort of mischief around the neighbourhood. I did love to tell a yarn though, but the yarns I told as a kid usually got me into trouble.

Q. Who is your favourite Poet ?

A. Most people would expect me to say Paterson or Lawson. Although I read and love their work, I am more interested in hearing the obscure contemporary Poets who are telling stories of their own lives in today's world. They are the travelling minstrels who ensure Poetry moves forward and continues to evolve, along with the language and images of modern Australia.... and of course the world.

Q. When did Poetry first attract your interest ?

A. Working with my father on a building site at the age of nine I was asked to throw a heap of old books in the garbage pile. I found a book of poems and the first one I read captured my heart enough to slip that little book into my back pocket and read it throughout my childhood. It was the only Poetry book I ever had (or read) until I was an adult. I still remember that poem…..

THE FROG

One day in early April
he leapt toward the brook.
I watched him in the sunshine
and saw the leaps he took.
This little Frog however
had rather dreadful luck,
for he went and landed
inside a greedy duck.
Yes, flop inside her tummy
a trembling little heap,
so frogs you see, like people,
should look before they leap.

Anon.

Q. What sports did you play and how good were you?

A. I played every sport I could. I represented my local districts in Rugby League, Volleyball and Basketball. Like most country kids though, I continued to play my sports for enjoyment and realised pretty early on that I was never going to be in the running for a Broncos jersey or an singlet. As an adult I did make the State Public Service Team and got to play at Lang Park as a lead up to a Qld-v-NZ match. The man's a bloody Legend.

Q. Has Poetry always been your job?

A. No! One year after leaving High School in Warwick, I joined the Queensland Police Force. I served almost ten years and attained the rank of Detective Senior Constable. I worked both in Brisbane and North Queensland as a Detective. My experiences in the job are often fuel for my poems. I loved certain parts of the work like investigating serious crime, but loathed traffic duties.

Q. Do you have a favourite poem?

A. Sweeney by Henry Lawson.

Q. When did you write your first poem?

A. I wrote a couple at school because we had to. One of them (when I was 14) actually won a local competition held in conjunction with the Warwick Rodeo. At the age of 21 I was travelling New Zealand and missed my hometown so much, that I wrote a comedy poem about a rodeo. That poem (Thompson) was published (to my astonishment) in an anthology one year later. The anthology, 'The Bronze Swagman Book Of Bush Verse', has offered many novice poets encouragement in this way

Q. How did you start to make a living from Poetry?

A. I began to learn and recite my poems at Folk Festivals and Country Music Festivals, winning a couple of awards. I was then invited to speak at various functions and had a couple of poems recorded and published. When High School Teachers began to invite me into their class rooms, I applied for approval from the Queensland Arts Council. My audition was successful and they then began touring my stand-up Poetry and Comedy Shows for teenagers. I then developed a Primary School Show, while still performing club shows and fulfilling guest speaking roles. I found soon that there was more than enough work to keep me on the road for about seven months of the year. That'll do me too!

Q. Will you always be a poet?

A. I will always write Poetry. I never thought I would make a living from Poetry, but after ten years I continue to find diverse and interesting work within my craft. If it all dries up tomorrow, I will look back thinking … wow what a ride.!. No regrets! I love those lines from a song off Slim Dusty's 100th Album that go… I'd rather be a has-been-than a never been at all!~