There seems to have been a seismic shift in poetry in Adelaide in my one\u00a0 year\u2019s absence (causal relationship? Probably not\u2026)<\/p>\n
In the past Friendly Street has been seen as the centre of the Adelaide – if not South Australian – \u00a0poetry community. Certain personality problems seem to have prompted a diaspora\u2026<\/p>\n
In 2011 and previous years Ken Bolton\u2019s Lee Marvin Readings<\/a> have been successful in Adelaide (often competing with Friendly Street on a Tuesday night) and the readings at the Gawler pub \u00a0are well-entrenched, but 2012 saw poetry communities emigrating to the suburbs. Last night I was invited as guest poet to the newly-formed SPIN<\/a> (Southern Poets & Musicians\u2019 Interactive Network) at the Ripple & Swirl beachside caf\u00e9 at Christies Beach. It was exciting to be part of something buzzing and new. I met a lot of new local people plus poets (like Nigel Ford, Rachel Mead, Heather-Taylor Johnson, Alison Flett, Ian Gibbins, Martin Christmas, Steve Brock and his dad, Julia Wakefield, David Cookson and prime-mover Deb Matthews-Zott) who\u2019d travelled from the city, the Hills and even Victor Harbor to be part of this new initiative. I\u2019ve already mentioned Word Box in Hindley Street in a previous post. We have Avalanche\u2019s Recovery Position<\/a> at Prospect (haven\u2019t made it there yet), Paroxysm\u2019s Spoke n Slurred at The Squatters in Thebarton and The Artisan caf\u00e9 in Blackwood. Meanwhile, back at Friendly Street, a fresh team is planning a new poetry year from Feb 5.<\/p>\n At the risk of sounding parochial, I reckon Adelaide punches well above its poetry weight for a city of its size!<\/p>\n There seems to have been a seismic shift in poetry in Adelaide in my one\u00a0 year\u2019s absence (causal relationship? Probably not\u2026) In the past Friendly Street has been seen as the centre of the Adelaide – if not South Australian … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/dionysiandiaspora-300x215.png\" "\\"dionysiandiaspora\\"")
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