So far as I know it's just a can but Billy seems to have been the name
bestowed on many Aboriginals in the bad old days. I should think
sensitivities would have been aroused before if there was such unintended
resonance.
Max
I once thought only the colonies did these ballads, Robert Service being a
Canadian export, for example, but in 1980 I went along to audit a poetry
group that met in a pub in Cambridge and it was infested with
modernpoetryhating types who had by heart long facetious ballads of their
own.
Round the corner John Ashbery was reading his work to a respectful little
audience in King's College.
On 13/08/10 7:28 AM, "Patrick McManus" <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> blackened billy
> does this have any special meaning or is it just a cookig pot over an open
> camp fire
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Max Richards
> Sent: 11 August 2010 22:52
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: ATTENTION WRITERS OF BUSH VERSE!
>
> From the Organisers of The Blackened Billy Verse Competition and
> The CountryEnergy Tamworth Bush Poetry Competition
>
> THE BLACKENED BILLY VERSE COMPETITION
>
> ATTENTION WRITERS OF BUSH VERSE!
>
> The 2011 Blackened Billy Verse Competition will be opening on September 1.
>
> This is regarded as one of the most prestigious BUSH POETRY competitions in
> Australia.
>
> First prize is $500 plus the famous BLACKENED BILLY TROPHY.
>
> Second prize is $250 and third $150.
>
> Bush poetry is a traditional type of verse written with rhyme and rhythm
> that reflects the Australian way of life.
> The genre has widened in recent years to encompass modern living in both the
> city and the bush.
> 2010 winner, Ellis Campbell, wrote on a subject which was very close to our
> hearts last year in a moving poem called ³The Arsonist².
>
> Tamworth Poetry Reading Group welcomes entries from new and old writers.
> Entry forms will be available on September 1.
> Please write to Jan Morris PO Box 3001, West Tamworth or email
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Entries close November 30 and the winners will be announced at the Tamworth
> Country Music Festival in January 2011.
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