A Special Post
Since the beginning of this year, I have enjoyed convening monthly poetry workshops called Everyone’s a Poet at the Glenelg Community Centre. In 2024, I’m offering The Poetry Appreciation Society for anyone who loves reading poetry. Both will run fortnightly on alternating weeks. In the meantime, I take great pleasure in introducing poems from seven workshop members with a big thank you for sharing them with Wattletales.
Oh, and I’ll also be running a Mindfulness group in 2024.
Introductions and Poems
Arranged here by colour, the poems below were written during our workshops. Each is as unique as its poet.
David Munn
David Munn has worked in the Brighton Library for 40 years. He is a movie fanatic with a particular fondness for comedies and horror films. He once was a volunteer for Urban Ecology, an environmental organization specialising in ecological cities. Under the pseudonym Joe Blow, he is the author of the self-help book How to Be Free
Sally Ann Hunter
Sally Ann was a biologist, then an environmental policy officer. Since 2000, she has been writing poems and novels (published). She finds inspiration from the many different effects of light. She writes about nature and spirituality. She loves fine music and gardening and practices meditation daily. She lives in a bushland setting with many native birds and animals.
Andrew Piper
Andrew has spent most of his working life as a high school maths teacher but has always been interested in the literary arts. Andrew has done corporate and media writing and preparing other official communiques. Now venturing into short story and poetry writing, he is a member of a number of local writers’ groups.
Trish Mossop
I love creativity in all its forms and have indulged in many. I have been using words for as long as I can remember, and my Mother once said, “They’ll get you into trouble.” So far, so good. I really enjoy writing, mainly lyrics and poetry. I love the ocean and its rhythm; my favourite thing apart from my grandchildren.
John Grant
John was born in the UK in 1945 and adopted at three by his mother’s second husband. His father died aged 36. His mother died at 43, a year after they emigrated to Australia in 1969. John spent his life driving and now lives in Hove. He loves to read, write, dance, and socialise with friends but is happy by himself.
Venita Trembath
I am a retired nurse, midwife, sociologist, wife, mother and grandmother of two teenage boys. I love learning, travelling and being creative. Since COVID, I rekindled an interest in writing and watercolour art. When I accidentally stumbled into a poetry group and was invited to stay, I found the experience and the encouragement to develop a new skill very enjoyable.
John Atkinson
I was born in Port Lincoln but lived in central Queensland for 35 years. After retiring, I returned to South Australia and now live in South Brighton. I’ve written poetry and journals intermittently, but involvement in a successful LGBTQIA+ monologue writing project in 2022 made me decide that it was ‘now or never’ to start writing more consistently.
Linda Williams
Lin Williams grew up in Country South Australia. She left school at 15, but thanks to Gough Whitlam’s free tertiary education, she later earned a BA and a rewarding mid-life career as a Lifestyle Coordinator. Now retired and living in Glenelg, Lin treasures family and friends, indulges her childhood dream to become a writer, haunts cafes and does crosswords.
