Storytime

Last Saturday I went to one of the Autumn Authors  events run by the Dandenong Ranges. This was advertised as Emilie Zoey Baker and friends and being a big fan of Emilie's  decided it was time for another dose of inspiration. And inspirational it was. With Angie Hart, from Frente, and the Body Poet , Sabrina D'Angelo, Emilie gave the audience a great afternoon of poetry, song and...can I say mime? It was my first experience with the Body Poet, and it was amazing. Not only her ability to make us laugh, in fact one fellow was laughing so much that it was almost more entertaining to watch him instead of the show, almost....but what I loved was her ability to express herself. Without words. Yes she has a talent, and a face that has an almost rubber like consistency to express any emotion....she also knows how to work the audience. All three performers had that ability and it was great to see.  Working a room is an artform in itself...and unfortunately a lot of pe...

Last weekend I went to the Word Tree , a local spoken word event held in Upwey. This was special for a variety of reasons. Guest performers were Susan Hawthorne, Patrick Boyle and Max Kulessa....there was a small but select open stage for performers.....but the event had just turned eleven. Yes eleven. This is huge. Enormous. And frankly deserves cake at least... Over the years there have been changes. Names....Red Room, Noises from the Basement, Talking in the Library, The Word Tree.... there have been a variety of hosts and MC's.... change of venues.....and some of the most wonderful poets have made their way up to the hills to perform. Poet Marian Spires  began this gig all those years ago....and I was there from the beginning.  With Marian's support and encouragement this is where I began to read and dare I say 'perform' my work. At that stage I only wrote short story and my first reading was...let's say interesting to say the least. I read my short sto...