Anke Mclean is the fabulous host of a little known poetry open mic held in Dandenong and she recently asked me to come along and be featured poet. I was delighted to accept and spend some time back in the old neighbourhood. I spent my primary school years living in Noble Park North with my parents. Every Friday night Mum would do the weekly grocery shop at safeway in Dandenong while I read a book in Myer. Afterwards we would have dinner at the Light of Asia Indian restaurant which was the closet thing we could get to Sri Lankan cuisine back in the early eighties. I always had gulab jamun for dessert.
Kafé on Hemmings in a delightful cafe and their folded eggs on gluten free toast was divine as was their strawberry matcha latte. I wasn't expecting there to be soma ny tasty things on the menu that I could eat!
But what about the poetry I hear you ask? Well there was poetry. Lots of poetry. The afternoon begins with an hour long writing workshop for anyone wanting to learn more about writing poetry. Then there's an amazing open mic of poets from all over including the Mornington Peninsula and Gippsland. And Anke who is an mc extraordinaire. And the guy whose name I've forgotten but he always ends the afternoon with his guitar and three songs.
I got to do two, fifteen minute sets of poetry. I read from my second collection, pas de deux, which is about connections to place, family, motherhood and nature. I also performed some of my more recent work which has started to look at the legacy of my mixed race heritage. These newer poems have also started to play with form and are long and more detailed than my earlier work. I really enjoyed performing at Kafé on Hemming, its a lovely venue and the staff are terrific!