Life feels rather busy at the moment; like a plate spinner at a circus, I’m conscious that it’s momentum that keep things up in the air. Taking my eye off any one plate risks it all coming crashing down.
It’s a nice feeling.
One upcoming gig that I haven’t mentioned lately, is the Australian Poetry presentation of Lines. A collaboration between musicians, lyricists and poets for a blurry, dreamy set of language floating back and forth between performance styles. The video above is from their most recent Lines gig in Melbourne.
On Saturday 27 August at 6.00pm, Nick Powell, whose work I first came across in the beautiful Harvest magazine, will be performing along with Eliza Hull, Bity Booker and myself at the Judith Wright Poetry Centre for the Queensland Poetry Festival. And it won’t cost you a cent.
I’ll be performing a set of poems that I wrote for a friend, Mirerva, whose name is so beautiful and mysterious (and often misspelled) I felt that I deserved a story woven around it. I try to perform these poems as often as I can if the setting and circumstances feel right, because they really need to sit together as a whole set and there’s not often a chance at open mics or busy bar room gigs to perform them.
At Lines, however, the focus is very much on language and stories which is an exciting space to perform in – so I’m feeling pretty excited and honoured to be a part of the next Lines showcase.
It’d be lovely to see you there too.
eleanor j jackson 