If pigs could fly
there’d be
less bacon.
If you were a bully at school,
don’t be one now.
If you keep having flings,
one day you’ll be flung.
If you’re digging your own grave,
consider what you’re using
as the shovel.
If God exists
we must appal him sometimes.
If time is money
some of us
will end up short-changed.
If you think you know everything,
try writing poems.
Saturday,18 January at 3 p.m, North Melbourne Library, 66 Errol Street, North Melbourne.
Tuesday, 4 March, 6 to 8 p.m, Launch of new (fifth) poetry collection, Personal Weather, at The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.
Friday, 7 March at 5.30 p.m, Brisbane Square Library, 266 George Street, Brisbane.
Sunday, 23 March at 7 p.m, Sacred Lounge, Cnr Colbourne Avenue and St Johns Road, Glebe, Sydney.
I give poetry readings in private houses to groups of eight or more. Currently I don't charge for this but will accept donations and/or petrol money if the private house reading is outside the Melbourne metropolitan area.
To date I have given private house readings in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and China.
My family and I – Helen, our son Walter and our dog Buzz (black miniature poodle – housetrained) are interested in house-swaps in Australia and overseas and are interested in billeting visitors to Melbourne and being billeted ourselves when we go on poetry reading tours in Australia and overseas.
I was going to say "How aphoristic!" but I see you have that in your labels. A delightful piece, especially the last stanza. It has sometimes taken me years to get what was in my head out and into a poem and sometimes when I look at it I think: Was that it? Was that all I had to say? I thought there might be more.
ReplyDeleteDear Jim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words about my "if" poem. My 2010 "if" poem was inspired by buying and reading "ifferisms", an anthology of aphorisms that begin with the word "if", collected and commented upon by Dr Mardy Grothe. I'm going to check out another book/collection of his, titled, "I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like".
In regards to how much to say in a poem, Charles Bukowski said in regards to writing a poem - "Get in, get out, don't linger". A comment I've found useful/a compass.
Every good wish,
Peter
I have an 'if' from my childhood - If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
ReplyDeleteIt always seemed so clever to me, and still does. One can get caught up with things that may one day occur, and miss out on what's happening right here, right now.