Issues of our times will be aired at Words of Hope, a live poetry reading at St Luke’s Anglican Church in Enmore on October 31 at 2pm.
Join poets Norm Neill (poetry of living); Charles Freyberg (poetry of change and vulnerability), Phillip Hall (poetry of depression dreaming hope), Martin Langford (poetry of the other), Judy Ann Johnson, Paul Scully (poetry of history, poetry of existence), Mona Zahra Attamimi (poetry exploring the personal and political), Noel Jeffs (poetry from the heart and soul), Anna Kerdijk Nicholson (poetry of relocation and growth) and Colleen Keating (poetic journey with Hildegard of Bingen) at this annual event subsidised by the Inner West Council.
Jeffs’ self-published Under the Dome is a rich collection of poems inspired by local places. “Pieces of eight I said, for a table of eight” begins: “I prayed for all my longings and its letting go into surrender; a wish to make more grace in the body than the soul.” While “Jacaranda” recalls street epiphanies: “Stardust speckled through the corner of her eyes, sparkling down in the waves of her hair. She lets it down as she dances for the tune of a reggae.”
“A street adoringly reveres all its jacaranda,” the poet says elsewhere, seeing “Geckoes and skinks forever clinging to all the wall” (“Our searching is a street”).
The unfolding nature of inner-city life, characterised by many twists and turns, sharp angles and contrasts, is neatly presented in a book which itself unfolds. The photographs are worth a mention, too – sensual images of eucalyptus leaves, billowing steam, (“Below my balcony door the 3801 lugs its track for a crimson defence …”), mouth-watering café fare, mosaic tiles.
Jeffs’ book will be available for purchase at the Words of Hope event. There will also be lucky-door prizes kindly donated by Better Read than Dead bookshop in King Street. Gold coin donations for the Writers Benevolent Society will be gratefully received.
The venue at 11 Stanmore Road, Enmore, has limited parking (some for people with disabilities).
For more information and RSVP for seating contact Noel Jeffs at noeljeffs@hotmail.com
