Drouin Ficifolia Festival Poetry Night

On Friday 10 February 2012, The Old Drouin Butter Factory played host to the Drouin Ficifolia Festival Poetry Night.

A collaboration between the Baw Baw Writers' Network and Drouin Ficifolia Festival, this year marked the ninth anniversary of the Poetry Night.

With a new organising committe at the helm, this year only one guest writer from outside the West Gippsland area was invited to perform, with local writers and musicians given top billing.

Young Drouin band John Mairead and The Tiger Lilly Blues played two sets, nicely bookending the evening. The trio consist of Gemma Rebbechi (vocals), Dom Treuel (vocals and guitar) and Tom "Butters" Butterworth (drums and percussion), and have a sound reminiscent of Angus and Julia Stone.

Joseph Mairead and the Tiger Lilly Blues performed six songs, including 'Grammatically Incorrect', and the beautiful 'Eddie'. Their performance went down well with the diverse age group of the audience.

The first featured poet of the evening was Rodney Williams. A long time writer of the Japanese poetry forms of haiku and tanka, Rodney has been widely published both here in Australia, and overseas.

Rodney opened his set with 'Come Back Down Here', an experimental poem in three columns, which can be read both vertically and horizontally. Jai Law and Steve Wiegerink joined Rodney on stage to read this tribute to Rodney's late sister.

For his recently published eight-part tanka sequence 'Overlooking The Ocean' (written in collaboration with New Zealand writer, Patricia Prime), Rodney was accompanied by Martine Batt.

'Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos', a creation myth-style poem saw Rodney sharing the stage with local singer/songwriter Todd Cook, who had written a musical accompaniment for the piece.

Baw Baw Writers' Network have been instrumental in the success of the Drouin Ficifolia Festival Poetry Night from the beginning.

Despite a smaller presence than previous years, the writing and performances of members who took to the stage lived up to the standards that Baw Baw Writers' Network has become known for.

'Ficifolia Dragons' was written in keeping with this year's Festival theme of 'Chinese Year of the Dragon.'

Olive Lyon pondered how a dragon would find life in Drouin. She asked if it would pop in to the local supermarket, drink the fountain in the town's main park dry, and how it would get around our fire restrictions.

The audience roared with approval when it was revealed that not only are there dragons in rural Drouin, but that these days they are known as developers.

Award winning bush poet and current Baw Baw Writers' Network President, Lisa Demos, opened her bracket with a heartfelt reading of Henry Lawson's 'Do You Think That I Do Not Know?'

LIsa then lifted the spirits of the audience - and the rafters of the Old Drouin Butter Factory - with a reprise of 'My Bum's A Star (aka The Colonoscopy)', originally written for the 2011 Poetry Night theme of 'The Stars Come To Drouin.'

Several members of the very appreciative audience were overheard agreeing with Lisa's more than graphic account of her experience.

Writer and local community radio presenter, Bronwyn Hansen, made her third Poetry Night appearance.

Bronwyn, who also writes online under the nom d'modem of 'The Writer's Dog', read her fifty-word flash fiction piece 'Sunday Rites'.

The piece, dedicated to her late grandmother, was inspired by a writing exercise in Carmel Bird's 'Dear Writer'.

Bronwyn's second reading was a remembrance of childhood summers and trips to her local public swimming pool with her mother and younger siblings.

Later in the evening, Bronwyn again took to the stage during the open mic session, reading another of her fifty-word flash fiction pieces, 'Summer's Gone.'

First published while still at university, Jean spent many years writing non-fiction pieces.

These days she enjoys "frivously" writing fiction.

In 2011, Jean ran a popular creative writing course at her home near Drouin.

For this year's Drouin Ficifolia Festival Poetry night, Jean read the poem 'Fear and Favour.'

Every now and then a Poetry Night audience is left wondering how a guest performer could get an invitation to appear, let alone call themselves a poet.

This year was one of those years.

πo - pronounced py-o - had the one hundred plus audience members divided from the moment that he opened his mouth.

One of his poems was nothing more than a three minute repition of two obscene terms for body parts, while another piece consisted of noises that you might expect to hear a six month old infant produce.

During πo's second set of the eveing, some people left the theatre shorlty after he began eight minute long rant that he described as poem, returning only at the end of his set.

After the intermission, Drouin Ficifolia Festival Committee President Cameron Grey officially opened the evening.

Having admitted that he does not have a poetic bone in his body, he very bravely read a speech that he tried to write as a poem. While it fell over after the first line, he persisted, and was rewarded for his efforts with appreciative laughter, and applause from the audience.

Singer/songer Todd Cook again returned to his hometown to appear at the Poetry Night. Todd's raw style and emotive lyrics mean that he is in high demand on the festival circuit.

As well as accompanying Rodney Williams earlier in the night, Todd played several of his own songs, including 'The Test', a song about addiction.

Todd was joined on stage by his mother, childrens author and poet Judy Cook. In usual mother style, she embarrassed by Todd by asking him what his addiction was. Todd revealed that it was football.

Todd's debut album, 'So Long' received wide airplay across the country, including national broadcaster Triple J FM. His third CD is due for release in March 2012.

Childrens writer and poet Judy Cook is a member of Baw Baw Writers' Network. This year she stepped into the breach as a member of the Poetry Night Organising Committee.

A lover of sailing and all things nautical, Judy read John Masefield's classic 'Sea Fever'.

With the Drouin Ficifolia Festival Poetry Night celebrating 10 years in 2013, expectations will be high for both the public and the writers and performers.

What will the theme for the Festival be? Who will be appearing at the Poetry Night?

I look forward to finding out!

^{Copyright © 2012 The Writer's Dog}