By Parker McKenzie
The first Words Aloud event on Wednesday 7 September will kick off a monthly gathering of aspiring poets, writers and keen listeners of the spoken word gather at Millers’ Homestead in Boronia.
Scottish poet John McKelvie was a guest performer for the inaugural night, where he was joined by five members of the audience who read their works to the 15 people in attendance.
Mr McKelvie said he thought the event was a wonderful opportunity for people to share their work.
“The local talent was really good, they loved the opportunity of coming to somewhere local and sharing their poetry,” he said.
“We did talk about poetry a little bit outside of the normal just standing up, reading and getting down shutting up. We explained what we’ve done and why we use particular forms.”
The next Words Aloud event will be held on Wednesday 5 October from 5pm to 7pm with another guest writer, though Mr McKelvie said he would like to attend again.
“It’s encouraged other people who have different styles of poetry to get up and try it,” he said.
“Their work wasn’t one size fits all.”
Millers’ Homestead is owned by Knox City Council, which is running a pilot program where Eastern Regional Libraries has a tenancy to run community events at the historic building.
Millers’ Homestead officer Michelle Kemp said the event was created through collaboration with local poet Lety Renteria.
“I’ve always wanted to start a poetry night to give people an opportunity to read their work allowed to supportive members of the public or other writers,” she said.
“The format will be there’ll be a guest writer each month, who will start the proceedings and share their work. And then we open it up to others who have joined us to share their own work to a group of people who are non-judgmental and supportive of their work.”
More information regarding the next Words Aloud event can be found at events.yourlibrary.com.au/event?id=32754
