On Tuesday 6th May, my sister Nebsy and I both won one of the heats of Poetry Idol, and now we’ll be in the final at Federation Square as part of the Melbourne Writer’s Festival in August. We had both learned our poems off by heart and it was awesome to both win at the same time. Super joy!
Here’s our winning poems:

By me:

Writer’s Office Block

So I wrote a poem about silence -
And I think I’ve said too much already.

By Nebs:

If Such a Man Exists

I’m dreaming of a scheming demon,
Marinating in exhilaration,
Feeding his fixation not to dally,
Speeding, like a rally,
Seizing my hand,
Rolling an alley down an alley,
Achieving his plans,
We can all be happy as Larry,
If we meet his demands,
They can end in satisfaction;
A rash of rash actions,
Not a shrug and drug addiction.
It’s a blur of fact and fiction,
But it’s great for killing time.
If such a man exists,
I’m only waiting till he’s mine.

The next Poetry Idol is on Tuesday the 3rd of June, 6:30 pm at the St Kilda Public Library (near Balaclava station). It’s free to watch and there’s free wine and cheese and lots of nice people and some brilliant poets. Book a place at the library on 9209 6655.

If you yourself are a brilliant poet and want to perform for a chance to win prizes and of course the deep abiding love of the audience, book a place in the July or August heat by emailing the inventor of Poetry Idol, Michael Crane: mfcrane2000@yahoo.com

There’s more info about Poetry Idol on the Paradise Anthology Website.

And I’m more than happy to explain my poem if anyone’s interested.

You Should Visit Sometime

In that moment, you toppled regimes.
In one instant, you overthrew dictatorships,
Undermined governments,
And lysed terrorist cells.

Memories grow like vines before they happen.
Visions of places I’ve never been
Spring up like weeds all over this Garden of Eden.
The secret service are wondering why I’m buying so much fertiliser.

But we could assassinate each other’s regret…
Raise an army of new tomorrows,
Declare war on all your enemies,
And kill the lights. You know. To stop climate change.

You can see they dragged me away…
Locked me up without a trial, and although
I sent you these blueprints,
I think my homing pigeon might have had bird flu.

Still… at least this orange jumpsuit looks great on me;
Despite the fact that it clashes with the barbed wire decor they have here.
I know you’re saving the world, but
You should visit sometime.

(C) Lady Chaos 2008

If anyone wants to find out more about Poetry Idol, visit the Paradise Anthology website.

Also, I won $100 for Thirst being judged as one of the five best poems in the book!
My sister Nebs’s poem Getting Got and my boyfriend Nick’s poem A Disclaimer also got published in the Paradise Anthology, although unfortunately they left a line out of Nick’s poem (not because it was too long or rude or anything, it must have just been a publishing error), so that didn’t make him too happy, but he took it much better than I would have.

Anyway, we’re all signed up for the next Poetry Idol in March (and hopefully every month after that!)… Nick and I are thinking of doing slightly linked poems… fun!

Thanks for all your feedback on my poems over the past year-and-a-bit, Nooksters… perhaps without your encouragement and constructive criticism, I wouldn’t have won anything. And I’ll try and write more good poems and post them more often now… after all, I’ll have to have a new one for every Poetry Idol!

If you’re interested, here’s Thirst:

Thirst

There’s no such thing as angels
He dipped his toe in the water
And found me waiting there for him

Now I wander the icy streets alone at night
And it’s Christmas in every window
Even their tears make me thirsty.

You told me I should be ashamed
Caught in your headlights,
I believed
You said the light and love I’d given
I had lost,
So I should grieve.

You said I could be right and pure
If I scrub harder,
I’ll come clean
And I could be recalibrated
And run smooth,
Like a machine.

Then ancient ages, teenage phases
Went through my veins
Like blades of razors
Those yellow flames were cellophane
Half the heat and twice the pain
No substitute for roaring blazes.

And oh, my mind did run and play
In hues beyond yellow
And pink
And there, the cool breeze blew away
The thick air,
And summer stink.

Silence was my only language
For what else more hurtful
Could be said?
You were lulled to sleep by your own pulse
It was not mine
For I was dead.

(C) Lady Chaos 2008

I performed 2 short poems, “Ceiling” and “Thirst”, Nick did a funny, punchy poem called “A Disclaimer”, Nebs did what I think is her best poem, “getting Got”, and Garrad performed one of his poems about a character from his story, which I think was called the “Dark Side of Pi”.

It was the usual amount of nerve-wracking, but thanks to many layers of makeup, no one could tell I was literally blushing myself to death.

Anyway, cutting to the chase here, after the wine and cheese, it came time for the winners to be announced… Nick and I were in the top 10, so we get our poems published in the Paradise Anthology, and Nebs got in the top 3, so she gets her poem published in the anthology AND got $100. Well done Nebs!!
But it was wonderful standing up in front of all those people with my man and my twin and a bunch of other cool poets and actually winning… I mean, I know it’s nice just to have other people hear my poetry, but by gee, it sure is nice to win too.

And afterwards we went for drinks with Michael Crane, the guy who organises and comperes Poetry Idol. Needless to say, Nebs bought the drinks.
Now we have a paid “gig” reading our poems at the launch of the Paradise Anthology in February. Yaaay!!

Anyway, my review is Here.

Now, I don’t want to spoil any of the plot of this wonderful work of genius for you, but let’s just say it’s the best movie I’ve seen this year, which is quite a compliment considering I watched Stardust a few months back and saw Lock Stock on DVD. Also, even though it was just a normal screening (not a premiere or anything, even a half-empty cinema), the thunder of applause and cheers it generated was just beautiful, and well deserved.

And so now, unless you have an intense disliking for exciting movies that don’t fit the typical formula, you absolutely have to see Death Proof.

The words I whisper constantly
Echo louder as screams
They follow me in the daylight
And haunt me at night in dreams

I dream when my eyes are open
And as I smile and laugh and speak
I dream as I listen to you
My weakness makes me weak

Angels alight in my peripheral
But they never meet my eyes
Do you know how lonely it feels
To win third, second and first prize?

Time flies when you’re covered in them
There’s no escape from this oubliette
I’m dying of you and terminal lung cancer
And they hand me a cigarette.

(C) Lady Chaos 2007

We went on a tour of the Joss House in Bendigo, which I found out is a Chinese temple. It was a good tour, and very interesting, but I was kinda disppointed, because I’d hoped it’d be an old opium den. Awww.

Despite the good time had by all, it’s great to be back in the land of suburbia and internet… apart from how the water tastes here… I never realised our water tasted so much like old books until I’d been drinking Kyneton water for a week.

Anyway, apologies for this self-indulgent blog-like post… just wanted to let Nooksters know I’m back and that Kyneton is awesome. If you’re ever there, make sure to try a fruit flan from the Country Cob bakery… they’re delicious on levels you may not have known possible.