POETRY

[coralie]

I have never been a scholar, facts and figures leave me cold
and history's full of dates I can't recall,
but English, now that's different, books to read and stories told
as poetry, that's the greatest gift of all.

'The Man From Snowy River' always has and likely will,
be my favorite poem of all as time goes on.
'The Highwayman' inspired me, 'Mongrel Grey' is cherished still,
they're imprinted on my soul by poets gone.

So the natural progression, when you find something you love,
is to aspire to duplicate what you've enjoyed,
and as I've always been a scribbler, poems fitted hand in glove
beside other things my leisure time deployed.

Technicalities may elude me, but do I really care to know
if the metre is precise as it can be?
It's like art appreciation, perfection doesn't matter so,
I just applaud the things I like, what pleases me.

Hence I try to take you all inside my mind through written word,
if the metre's incorrect I cannot tell.
I just put my heart into it hoping feelings I have stirred,
will delight you, while delighting me as well.

I am thankful for the blessings I've received, that is for sure,
as we never know how life is going to be.
Love and family and good friends are rated highly on my score,
as is the beauty of immortal poetry.

[freckels]

Well done Coralie.  For someone who has no idea if the meter is correct or not it looks pretty good to me.  Obviously you have a natural feel for it.  No doubt poetry scholars could find things that are technically incorrect but for people like me who just like poetry that reads easily and flows nicely it is a pleasure to read, so for one person at least you have achieved what you set out to do.  Thank you for sharing.

[zondrae]

G'day coraline,

The only time that technical points come into play, in poetry, as in most things, is if you are competing.
as you say you write for your own pleasure, then a little slip in either rhyme or metre matters not one little bit.

I am enjoying your poems (even if some of them are flamin horse poems) and I am sure all the members of this site are too.

This "flamin horse" thing, is a bit  of fun between myself and Kym Eitel. (who is one of the top writers in Australia today) Kim had a few really good 'horse' poems that were very successful.  I don't really dislike horses. I started saying this after, it seemed, a long string of competitions were won by poems featuring horses. I am a city girl and don't mind horses - as long as there is a nice sturdy high fence between my and them.

[coralie]

Thanks Leonie, I might have mentioned I stumbled on this site while looking for a 'missing poem' and it was such a lucky 'stumble'. I am having fun and keeping the old brain exercised at the same time. You are all such lovely, talented people and I look forward to reading more new poems each day. It is just such a pleasure to play a small part in it all.        Coralie

[coralie]

  Thank you too Zondrae.  Ah yes, the flamin' horse poems are my favorites (not that you'd notice of course  but I just enjoy reading any and all.  I'm sure I'd get a kick (pardon the pun)  out of Kim Itel's poems (if horses feature largely ). I'm sorry I am rather ignorant of to-day's poets, (excepting the good folk who contribute here, now), but I will make a pleasurable effort to rectify thatand any modern books of poetry you could suggest would be appreciated.
I can undertand how you feel about horses, my Mum always said "Uncomfortable in the middle and dangerous at both ends"    Thank you for your encouragement with my, rather basic, poems.
I am thoroughly enjoying myself.   

[zondrae]

Coraline,

A very generous gent Ric Raftus, provides this site at his expense. We owe him loads of thanks. I am a great believer in Karma, and he will receive his gifts 10 fold someday.

Also, enjoying and sharing poetry is what it is all about. We can't all be a Lawson or a Paterson but we can still share and learn.

[Irene]

Hi Coralie
Kym goes under the name of 'the mad mare' on the forum. She hasn't posted any poems for quite a while, but she has a lovely poem in the RSL section on the second page, called 'REmember The Horses Too' - have a read of it, it is lovely.
If you go to the members list, under the 'T' tab you will find her. YOu will have to go back quite a lot of pages to find her poems  but they are worth looking for.
Catchya
Irene

[zondrae]

yep,

Irene is right, Kym is one of our best Bush Poetry writers. I know I say "Flamin' Horse Poems" but this is because very often Kym's horse poems win competitions. There is also another very gifted lady, Veronica Weal (from Victoria) who has written more than one really great 'horse' poems. She too has won many comps. Veronica has a poem called "A Fairy Tail" you should try to dig it out, if you can. In MHO it is a masterpiece. (even if it is a FHP)

[jim tonkin]

Give me a good horse poem anyday."In the stable" my favourite horse poem with which I won a silver medal in the 2006 aust champs.Anyone who ever has owned a horse that gives you everything when you ask him for it will understand this poem as the writer wanted it shown.Horse poems are possibly not appreciated these days as people do not depend on them.Another poem I perform'The open steeplechase".Steeple chasing has been banned in Victoria,but police still use horses in crowd contol.Horses unlike dogs are not naturally aggressive against people.In Europe soccer hooligans use steel kebab skewers,drive them through the ribs behind the girth straight into the horses heart.There are many other ways to harm a horse.I have been trying to get them to stop using horses by police for crowd control for years Jim

[zondrae]

evening Jim,

Please allow me to make it clear, once and for all. I have no problem with horses. I prefer them on the other side of a high fence from me, but apart from that, no worries. It is the horse POEMS that I refer to. I merely began to notice just how often 'horse' poems won competitions and it caused me to utter "flamin' horse poems". It was a trivial aside, understood (at  the time) for the light hearted quip it was ment to be.

I would never, intentionally, hurt any animal. (but you take note, in the next few comp results you see, just how many 'FHP's there are)

[coralie]

I'll be in horse lovers heaven if I find all these wonderful flamin' horse poems to read. They sound great.
Yes Jim, I agree with what you say. We once had to depend on live horsepower and everyone related to the splendor of the horse. Now, around the cities Horses are connected to leisure pastimes mainly.
And even in the country, bikes and such sometimes replace the horse.
I know some graziers who can't even ride a horse and have no wish to learn. "Queen Street Farmers" perhaps  but they reckon it's easier to just start up a bike than saddle up a horse. Shame really.

[coralie]

I just love to sit in the stable and watch and listen to the horses eating. It is so relaxing and pleasurable to me. My first husband used to say it was like watching the dollars go down the horses' necks.
Perhaps that is why he was my first husband BUT NOT MY LAST. I saved the best for last, someone who feels the way I do.

[jim tonkin]

Yes Coralie,In the last 50 years been without a horse for about 2 weeks when one died from snake bite.Was a weird feeling not to have a horse in the paddock.Had the one before longer than my wife at the time,didn't cost me as much either.That's why I like "in the stable"it shows how a good man looks after a faithfull horse till the end.Also "leave him in the longyard" has a final stanza not on the song but I heard Jim Egan perform it once if anyone has the last stanza? Jim

[Peely]

G'day Jim

Found a copy of the full version of "Leave Him in the Longyard" on Merv Webster's website:

http://users.tpg.com.au/thegrey/Featured%20Artist.htm#Kelly Dixon

Regards


John Peel

[jim tonkin]

Yeah thanks mate,pretty deep when you have to pull the gun on a horse like that.The sort of thing you never forget or talk about.As a horse has a small brain it has to be done properly.Saw the police do it wrong after a broken leg at a pony club gymkhana a few years ago and it wasn't good.Blimey how did we get here?My horse ,pluto had a big scrub tick this morning right up in his back legs.Fair dinkum.I lifted up his back leg and tried but couldn't reach it.So I went right behind him between his back legs,his ears were back,I felt it ,grabbed it and pulled it out.They always pop and are full of blood.Anyway I got it from around his personals and didn't even have to buy him a coffee.Hope I go before him Jim