An evening of contemporary Australian poets presenting new, recent and developing works.
Our poets include acclaimed and multi-published poet and author Peter Rose, also editor of Australian Book Review; Margaret Vandeleur, a master of the short piece, and author of the novel The Catch; the superb young poet Lia Incognita; the multi-award-winning Maria Zajkowski; queer crip activist and occasional poet, Kath Duncan; award-winning West Indian-Australian political writer and poetry slam champion, Maxine Clarke; the prolific and much published Tony Page, who has carved a reputation as a poet in Asia over the past decades; and the unforgettable young poet Rhys Rodgers, recently returned from performing in Europe and the USA.
Where: Hares & Hyenas
Date: Monday 30 January
Time: 7:30pm
Price: Full $15; Concession $10
Secret Side of a City//The Age
“…it takes a certain sensitivity - and some imagination - to discern the true nature of a particular story, or to guess what went on at a certain building, or to suspect the ulterior purpose of a public lavatory. ”People see a place differently if they have a particular interest,” he says. ”So you can be walking down Swanston Street in 1950, 1960 or 1970 and see things that other people don’t see at all - or see them but have no idea what they mean. Or you can see them with what might be described as a ‘queer eye’, a gay sensibility.”
Such places might be the vegetarian restaurant in Swanston Street that was once Val’s coffee shop - a much-loved bohemia frequented by artists, theatrical types, activists and camp men and women (as they were then known). Or what is considered Melbourne’s oldest gay pick-up spot, a urinal outside the Queen Victoria Hospital, known as such since the 1860s (it was removed in the 1990s).
Because homosexuality was criminalised for so long in Victoria, it was pushed underground into such places. ”For camp women and men, social disapproval made it difficult for romantic or sexual relationships to emerge in the ordinary ways available to heterosexuals - through family, church, clubs and at work,” Wayne Murdoch writes in Secret Histories.
The walks that Willett conducts range about the CBD and inner suburbs. This year’s walk, as part of the Midsumma festival, will focus on the ’50s, an era when suspicion, oppression and police entrapment of gay men were at their height.
The Midsumma history walk is on January 22. Bookings at midsumma.org.au, alga.org.au
Upcoming: 2012
It seems I’ve got quite a few spoken word performances lined up during Midsumma:
- Love Me, Love Me Not (Thu 19 Jan at Bar Nancy, curated by Lisa-Skye)
- Rapid Fire - 12 Writers, 6 Minutes (Fri 20 Jan at Hares & Hyenas)
- What a Piece of Work: Queer Verse (Mon 30 Jan, also at H&H)
I’m also likely to make an appearance at Word is Out Poetry Slam (Mon 23 Jan at H&H) to defend my title from last year.
It’s a pretty amazing program for spoken word this year, partly I think because H&H have 20 shows on to celebrate their 20th anniversary. My picks are Quippings (a night of “freaktastic delights” hosted by Kath Duncan - Tue 31 Jan) and Australia Day Hangover (programmed by OutBlack convenor Bryan Andy - Fri 27 Jan).
I also have some really exciting stuff coming up as part of the Ladies of Colour Agency - wait and see.
oh man! all this and only one 40 degree day so far. summer in melbourne, you are doing well
a performance night featuring people of colour
spoken word, music and more
THURSDAY 26 JAN 2012
doors at 7pm
part of Midsumma & ‘They’re a Queer Mob’ at
BLAK DOT GALLERY 413 Lygon St, East Brunswick
wheelchair accessible - blakdot.com.au
$3 self-identified POC / $5 solidarity
pocthemic@gmail.com
poster by Arlene Texta Queen
(via toujoursgai)
They’re a Queer Mob
Opening next week, I’m in this group show at Blak Dot with a portrait of Crystal McKinnon.
as part of Midsumma, Blak Dot Gallery presents
They’re a Queer Mob
A vision of queer culture from non-western perspectives. A mob of artists with cultural roots in Indigenous Australia, the Pacific, Africa, and India offer their alternative visual experiences
Featuring Jules Renton, Renuka Rajiv, Meera Sethi, Arlene TextaQueen, Kamahi Jordan King, Peter Waples-Crowe, Cecilia Kavara, Kimba Thompson, Salote Tawale, Susan Forrester and Jacob Tologata
Opening night will be a party with various performers scheduled to entertain all evening.
The exhibition features an informal discussion on GLBQT diversity in Indigenous cultures. With speakers covering such topics as the third gender in Indigenous cultures such as faafafine (Samoa), fakaleiti (Tonga), rae rae (Tahiti Nui) and sistagirls (Indigenous Australia). Also to be covered is the continuum of specific Indigenous sexualities which have become distinct parts of Western GLBQT minority culture.
opening Thurs 19th January from 6pm
413 Lygon St, Brunswick East
19 January - 5 February
Thu - Sun 12-5pm
www.blakdot.com.auhttp://www.facebook.com/events/214874975265846/
(via squaresome)
