Here beginneth the second in what appears to be a biennial series. It’s my own personal poetry week, very much like the one I held back in February 2010. It’s being held for exactly the same reason: I’ve been invited to guest at Perth Poetry Club and really need some new material to read.
But more than that, I really need to work on the hundreds of fragments that have been accumulating in notebooks and files for years, the many beginnings of poems that sit quietly, waiting for my attention.
In my quest to have some of them ready for this Saturday, when I’ll be reading, I’ve identified a handful that look promising. I’m going to throw the (current) opening lines down here in order to hold myself accountable in a semi-public way. And also because I’m narcissistic like that. I did this last time, and it worked. And I’m all for whatever works, narcissism and all.
So, nine languishing first lines, plus one from a piece I scribbled at Coogee Beach yesterday:
Down at Coogee, girls surf the beach/in unrelenting waves
Some possibly more promising that others, as is the way of things. But I’ll hope to get 5-6 from this, and along with some older work, that should be enough for my slot.
Thanks, Perth Poetry Club for the kick-in-the-pants kind invitation. If things continue at this cracking pace, I may have enough for a new collection in another ten years or so…
If anyone is around this Saturday, March 10, and keen to hear some half-formed poetry, please do join me from 2pm at the Moon Cafe, 323 William St, Northbridge. I’ll be sharing the bill with Annie Otness, and suspect her work will be decidedly more polished. There’s also open mike, so get there early if you want to sign up for that.
Meg McKinlay 
Congratulations, Meg, on the invitation and good luck with your writing this week. I'm loving a lot of these first lines. Will you be posting the finished products?
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Thank you! I really appreciate the encouragement. As to posting the poems, I'm not sure. I really need to start sending work out again, and if I put it up here, that complicates things. Perhaps if I just add some more lines? It does feel like a bit of a tease, though.
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Love these lines. I, too, agree this is no country for these old men…
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