Joseph Duemer, sir, without teachers, lecturers, professors I would not have
been introduced to this wonderful art form. I would not have experienced the
dedication of the true teacher, like eg. my Professor Glen Phillips here in
Perth, Western Australia. A man who spends hours and hours giving up his
spare time to encourage and instill that even as beginners - we are
'writers.' Without this kind of dedication I would not have experienced the
joy and pleasure of writing poetry, then even more importantly beginning to
understand it in English units like 'The Study of Poetry.'
THE DIFFERENCE IS ......getting it published and taking it further --to the
general public. The general public do not buy poetry books. They do not read
poetry. They still think that if it doesn't rhyme it's not poetry. Some
Australian schools are still showing kids the great Aussie classic 'My
Country' by Dorothea Mackellar, da, da, da, ..I love a sunburnt country/a
land of sweeping planes/of ragged mountains ranges/of droughts and flooding
rains. They need history, yes, but surely they should be introduced to
contemporary Australian poets like Les Murray, even your African American
poet, David Hunter Sutherland. He is the finest wordsmith I have ever read!
I would love it if the general public knew that we have gone beyond the
classics. I would love it if everyone had at least 5-6 poetry books on their
shelf.
Sorry, I chose the wrong word 'TASK' for the future, what should it be then?
Should we just bury our heads under the proverbial sand and pretend that
poetry is popular?
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