Community
7 March, 2025
Celebrating the art of poetry
RESIDENTS who are thinking of trying out poetry, or simply wish to hear the magic of poems, are invited to visit the Camperdown Library to celebrate World Poetry Day with ‘An Hour of Poetry’.
World Poetry Day, which will be marked on Friday, March 21, celebrates one of the oldest forms of expression and promotes poetry as an art form and oral tradition.
Local poet Gail Waston said the idea for the hour of poetry event came from a discussion between herself and friend Rebecca Lines-Kelly.
“Rebecca was reading an autobiography of Judith Wright, and Judith Wright started each chapter in her book with one of her poems,” she said.
“It just brought to mind how beautiful poetry was, how important poetry was, and a desire to share that joy of poetry with other people who also appreciated poetry.
“It would be nice just to have a function to read Australian women’s poetry together.
“People can bring along a poem - but no longer than 16 lines because we’ve only got an hour and we want to keep it interesting and moving – and just enjoy poetry.
“It’s a great human activity and it’s about people exploring the deeper things in life.”
The poetry hour will run at the library, located at 212 Manifold Street, from 11am-12noon and will feature a variety of poems by Australian women.
Mrs Watson said the event aimed to provide residents with the opportunity to enjoy poetry, especially since Camperdown has poets of its own living in the area.
“Angela Preiss has published small books of poetry, and there’s also Joan Mahony, who’s absolutely besotted with poetry and has come from an art background,” she said.
“It’s a great art form, and the opportunity to share that is often limited in small places.
“Even though we said women poets, men are most welcome to come along and read women’s poetry as well.
“It was originally an oral tradition, and we’d like to tap into that and just share.
“I’m sure there are closet poets all over the place.”
Anyone who is interested in sharing a poem at the event is encouraged to contact Ms Lines-Kelly 0411 128 461 before Monday, March 17 to book a reading slot.
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