Local bards line up for Poets’ Breakfast at Show

Maleny’s Brendan O’Shea

The word is out and local bards are excited that this year’s Nambour Show program includes a Poets’ Breakfast. 

But it’s not just poets that are looking forward to it. Audiences love Poets’ Breakfasts, for their spontaneity, their unpredictability, but most of all for their laughs.

“Poets’ Breakfasts are quite unrehearsed,” says popular hinterland poet Ian Mackay who will be the host and MC. 

“All our poets have a wide repertoire but they respond to the other poets as well as the audience. There’s room too for walk-up poets and we even channel dead poets and this adds a whole extra dimension to the morning.”

Ian got his taste for poetry at the very first Mapleton Yarn Festival back in the early 90s. So inspired was he that he says his thoughts came out as rhyming couplets for the next three weeks and he was hooked.

He helped establish Mapleton Poets soon after, and performed at many a Woodford Festival where he hosted, among other things, the Infamous One Minute poets’ Brawl.

Also on the ticket will be Robin Archbold, “Archie”, past winner of the prestigious Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup.

Joining them is Woodford’s Mark Feldman past winner of the Champion Reciter Award at Canberra’s National Folk Festival.

And the most colourful addition to the line-up is the Mindfulness Poet Brendan O’Shea from Maleny. “Somehow Brendan manages to cleverly weave together philosophy, his past as a Buddhist monk and some eccentric observations on life in Maleny,” said Ian.

“Lest the line-up be totally full of males there’s the welcome addition of an old friend, Arcadia Love, who has delighted many a poetry audience.”

It will also feature Harry Donnelly who for years took weekly to the airwaves of ABC Coast FM with The week that was and The thoughts of H.

“Bush poetry includes rhyming poetry that’s best when it’s performed live, and there’s an element of ‘bush lawyer’ and ‘bush mechanic’ in there too, as each performer has their own distinct style,” Ian said.

Mark 9am Sunday June 12 in your calendar, Nambour Showgrounds, to experience a fantastic “Back- from-Covid Poets’ Breakfast” and you’ll see how laughter really is the best medicine, even if you can’t claim it on Medicare.

Tickets for the June 10, 11, 12 event: www.sunshinecoastshow.com.au/tickets. Prices have been kept the same as last year: $20 for an adult or concession and $16 for a student. There’s a 20 percent discount if you purchase online. If you have queries, please see the website’s Frequently Asked Questions page: www.sunshinecoastshow.com.au/info/faq/.