The lecture was by Les Murray, an Australian poet who is also one of the people editing the Macquarie Australian dictionary. (http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/anonymous@9c9B365973255/-/p/dict/index.html)
The dictionary’s Word of the Week this week is full up to dolly's wax:
satiated after a fine meal; replete with food; stonkered. I couldn't eat another crumb, I'm full up to dolly's wax. Referring to an old type of child's doll which had a cloth body and a head made of wax. You can also be full up to pussy's bow or ribbon.
Bibliography: Macquarie Best Aussie Slang. © 2008. James Lambert, editor. Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd (online edition 2010).
Les began hesitantly, saying he hadn’t written any prose for so long he’d almost forgotten how to do it, but as he warmed up the lecture became very entertaining. He collects words – and makes some up, too. He’s from Scottish immigrant and Aboriginal stock, brought up an only child on a farm in a remote part of New South Wales. His account of his education in philology, languages and literature made fascinating listening. His poetry is sharply observational and the poems he read to us were full of his love of nature and his awareness of the impact of human activity on the environment. Some were very short, wry observations or puns, while others were longer meditations and stories.
We ran into a couple of friends and the social part of the evening was good fun, too.
Bang Said the Gun at the Roebuck was great entertainment as usual. One of the guest acts, Inua Ellams, was particularly good. I hadn’t seen him before but he’s well known here in London for his lyrical storytelling poetry, delivered with engaging modesty.
Friday’s outing was to the Tea Box where a friend of ours called Julie Mullen (the same Julie who interviewed us on her hospital radio show the other week) was hosting an evening of poetry.
The event was free and it’s held every second Friday of the month. We each read for about five minutes and met and listened to a number of new and old friends.
In the second half of the evening, Donall became quite bold and gave one of his best renditions to date of his poem "Och Aye, but Noooo". I hope Julie didn't mind - her Vegetarian Erotica is perhaps more subtly expressed!
The Tea Box is a delightful venue, a café/bar that specializes in different kinds of tea, as well as stronger drinks. The food is also very good. It’s at number 7, Paradise Road, Richmond – what a lovely address! They have a Facebook group at
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42800909421
Next week we’ll show our faces back at the Poetry Café on Tuesday, hoping that no-one else has bagged the sofa on which we like to lounge there – it’s first come, first served, so we’ll have to show up early! On Wednesday Donall is doing a guest spot at “Blank Verse” in Guildford and on Thursday another at “Utter” at the Cross Keys in Kings Cross, so it’s another week of poems, performances and open mics for Donall and me.
