Dangerously Poetic celebrates 21 years of publishing local poets

Laura Shore

It began as a joke. A group of eight poets gathered to brainstorm how to start a poetry press.

The year was 2000, and we talked about the dearth of poetry opportunities. When Jen Jacobs said something about being dangerously poetic, we laughed. In Australia, unlike many third-world countries, poetry was basically ignored and definitely not considered a threat.

On reflection, we realised Dangerously Poetic was a perfect name for a press.

We began a monthly reading series at Persephone’s Window, a beautiful independent bookstore in Byron.

We spoke with Jill Eddington

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We have the hard evidence of the many cases where lobbyists have successfully got their corporation’s interests before parliamentarians with successful outcomes for the private organisations they are representing.

The referendum’s Voice Committee will be a similar lobbyist group, that will lobby to address practical actions on specific issues, as at the NRWC (now Byron Writers Festival) about a grant to start a co-operative publishing venture. On receiving these funds, we decided to invite Ron Pretty from Five Island’s Press to offer two weekend well as for broad structural reform. Integrating Aboriginal business development, as well as practical actions to address the failing ‘Close the Gap’ proposals and Australia’s poor record of protecting cultural sites, will be some of the benefits.

But as well, Australia has a 60,000-year history. The Voice Committee has the real capacity to move Australia towards a better general social, cultural intensives. Afterwards we decided our mission was to publish and promote quality poetry by poets from our region. We fine-tuned this to include community building through poetry. and financial integration of Aboriginal people into what 21st-century Australia actually is, from a colonised country where Aboriginal people were ignored in our Constitution.

Importantly, the Voice Committee is a vehicle where we can move Australia forward towards where Aboriginal people and Australians of immigrant backgrounds all stand together, and all call ourselves fellow countrymen

The collective set up an independent standards panel so the work offered for publication would be of high quality. The late Ron Pretty often said, ‘You can’t write too much poetry, but you can publish too much.’

My collection, Breathworks, was the ‘first cab off the rank’ as Dorothy Porter put it when she launched it at the 2002 Byron Writers Festival.

Encouraging poetry

To make a big splash, we declared 27 July, Poetry Day in Byron and offered three events. Breakfast with the greats; a champagne reading of local poets; and finally, we offered Dangerous After Dark, a music and poetry soiree. This was so successful, we made Poetry Day an annual event for many years.

and women on the same level playing field.

Regarding the referendum’s financial cost – it’s time to pay the rent. All income, both government and private, is generated on unlawfully occupied land. It was illegal under British royal law, British parliamentary law, and international law, to occupy already-occupied land – Cook only got away with it as it took a year to get a reply to his letters back from England. The British replies probably went: ‘If the continent is unoccupied, who are these artefacts from, that you’ve sent back?’ and, perhaps, ‘In regard to your claim of terra nullius (land empty of people), do you mean that just the beach had no people on it, after you cleared it by shooting at them?’

So far, we have published 15 books, some individual collections and some anthologies. Dangerously Poetic is a heartening example of what a community can create together. We have always encouraged poetry lovers as well as poets to share their favourite poems.

We are in the process of editing our 16th book which will be a collection of Kathryn Boorman’s poems.

Everyone is invited to celebrate our 21st year of community poetry on Sunday, 6 August from 2–4pm at the Brunswick Heads RSL, 24 Fawcett Street. Dangerously Poetic poets will be featured and talented Emma Lees will sing and play original music. A $20 donation for entry includes a free book and refreshments.

But the lives of a people, whose numbers were reduced from perhaps

1,300,000 to just 300,000 over a few short decades, and who are now a minority, and where sections have a glaring disparity in their lives to that enjoyed by the broad society, should be no laughing matter for any of us. Accept the hand that has been extended, it will be a better Australia for all of us – vote ‘Yes’ to the referendum question.

John Lazarus Byron Bay