Standup poets regale the green
“When I first heard a speech by Harvey Milk, I was transfixed. I’m not religious but I was struck by the thought: ‘This is what it would have been like to listen to Jesus’. Words can be powerful.”
These words from John August explain why he was driven to set up Kings Cross Poets, a come-as-you-are poetry slam every Saturday morning at the Kings Cross Farmers Market.
He says many people have the wrong idea about poetry.
“Poetry doesn’t have to be about abstract metaphors. It can tell a story,
something you can immediately relate to.”
“For me, it‘s all about performance, not the words on paper. When I, or my
associates perform, we’re happy if you like what you hear. We’re not going to try
to sell you our publications; most of us don’t have any.”
All are welcome to speak or listen, and the poems can be original or not. Most performers keep them fairly short and sweet. The morning is broken into two sessions, to give people a chance to do their shopping etc, starting at around 10.30 and midday.
Mr August provided a few excerpts from favourite poems. The following lines from The Young British Soldier by Rudyard Kipling still ring true today:
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An go to your Gawd like a soldier.
So-oldier of the Queen!
by Michael Gormly
