Thanks a lot, Andrew. I met Merv once when he and the legendary Dorothy Hewett
passed through Melbourne, and John Barnes invited people round.
I’ve forwarded your lively touching lines to JB himself.
Also I find on youtube various ML and DH items,
e.g. from Varuna the writer’s centre in the Blue Mountains,
with a daughter in charge. And a son. And music.
Max
On Sep 14, 2016, at 8:19, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Catches the core of the man, & keeps the fire going, Andrew.
>
> Doug
>> On Sep 13, 2016, at 6:03 PM, Andrew Burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> *IN MEMORY OF MERV*
>>
>>
>>
>> Merv’s riding down
>>
>> for his cremation. He wouldn’t
>>
>> miss it for all the sugar cane
>>
>> in Queensland. All the family
>>
>> will be there and people
>>
>> he only half recognises. Will
>>
>> the undertaker ladies have
>>
>> a hitching rail and safe storage
>>
>> for his saddle-bags? They’re new,
>>
>> you know. They were on
>>
>> Merv’s last shopping list: *'I need *
>>
>> *pack saddle with a couple of splitbags – *
>>
>> *also a .22 rifle to shoot whatever...**'*
>>
>> All the cane fires of Queensland
>>
>> couldn’t burn Merv’s rage out
>>
>> but now all his energy goes
>>
>> up in smoke in one last blaze.
>>
>> Don’t call the wallopers or
>>
>> the fireys. Merv’s just going out
>> in one last blaze of glory.
>>
>> * Merv Lilley was a cane-cutting big man and a well-known poet and writer.
>> He died just days ago at the age of 96. He suffered from dementia in his
>> final years, and left a long list of poems and folk ballads. His two
>> daughters are both poets and very clever ladies.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrew
>> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
>> Books available through Walleah Press
>> http://walleahpress.com.au
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
> https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>
> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>
> Four or five couplets trying to dance
> into Persia. Who dances in Persia now?
>
> A magic carpet, a prayer mat, red.
> A knocked off head of somebody on her broken knees.
>
> Phyllis Webb
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