Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: dreamer

Souped Up!

It’s hard keeping the troops fed. Especially when they come home from school, starving. All that learning sure does burn calories!

I’m not sure about them but I know that I get bored with making the same things so I took a little time the other day to go through my recipe books and find some tasty recipes.

My two favourite cookbooks at the moment are both by Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame. They have incredibly naff covers but Hugh’s Three Good Things…On a Plate and Light & Easy are both fantastic cookbooks.

I must be craving warmth because every recipe I flagged was soup! White bean soup, barley soup, lentil and bacon soup, chickpea soup, eggplant soup and fennel soup to be precise. I figured why not have a crack at making them all and so I did.

The biggest hit was the lentil and bacon soup followed by the white bean soup. I also quite liked the fennel soup with its preserved lemons. The chickpea soup tasted a lot like a hot, runny, hummus!

It felt great to be back in the kitchen, making something new. And so wonderful to be a eating so many new flavourful soups!

July 19, 2024
3CR Radiothon & Spoken Word Show

I’ve just joined community radio, 3CR's Spoken Word team as one of the four hosts. This morning I did my first ever show – a live broadcast for the station’s annual fundraiser. It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time!

This is me in Studio 1 at 3CR right after this morning’s broadcast. We were broadcasting live with poems sent in to us from poets all round the country. It’s part of the drive to raise funds for the station. Our show’s target is $1650 and if you can donate to help keep us on air we can keep bringing you new and amazing poetry. Click here to go to the page to make a donation. Every little bit helps! And it's tax deductible too!

Lucky for me tech whizz and all round incredible human being Brendan Bonsack was driving the panel and the fabulously witty and super calm Waffle Irongirl was sharing the mic. It was a blast and I’m hooked!

If you didn't manage to catch the live broadcast, don't worry, you can hear it over on our podcast page.

June 13, 2024
High Society

After we visited Floriade yesterday, we strolled across to The Marion for high tea. Mum was really keen to take the girls somewhere nice for cake and this place came up when I searched online for a suitable venue. The Marion is named after Marion Mahoney who was the partner and wife of Sir Walter Burley Griffin. She was a landscape architect and responsible for much of Canberra's beautiful early design. When you think of the bush capital, you really should be thinking of or thanking her.

I didn't manage to get a photo of the first course because I was too busy inhaling it. Pancetta, seed crackers, vegan feta, vegetable fritter, chutney and artichoke soup in a little cup. It was followed by the traditional high tera cake stand filled with dei,icous goodness. The top tier held bite-sized cakes of magnificence, the middle tier contained sandwiches with the crusts cut off (I had slalom & dill and egg & chives) and the bottom tier a scone with lashing of jam and cream. All of this accompanied by an individual pot of tea for each person from a very extensive menu. You can also get coffee. My choice was the woku tea.

The best thing for me about this incredible high tea was that everything was gluten and dairy free. I didn't always have exactly the same as everyone else but for once I didn't care because the food they made me was just as good, if not better! If you're like me and have dietary requirements, I would highly recommend coming here for a real treat. You just need to give the kitchen twenty four hours notice to cater for your needs. My other tip is to ask for extra servings. Apparently they can't give you a whole additional savoury plate but you can ask for parts of it which I did – getting some more pancetta, vegan feta and crackers. I also asked for extra sandwiches and got a refill of boiling water for my teapot when it was empty.

The views from the restaurant, located at Regatta Point on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, were magnificent. They were the icing on a rather fabulous cake!

September 25, 2023
A Blooming Good Time

This morning we managed to sneak in a visit to Floriade on our way to our other engagements (high tea at The Marion and a concert at St Paul's in Manuka). When we left my parents' place in Tuggeranong, it was slightly overcast but by the time we had found a car park, it was a classic Canberra spring day of blue skies, sunshine and a slight crispy edge to the morning air.

It wasn't too crowded given the earlyish hour so we had ample room to wander along the garden beds checking out the magnificent displays of tulips, daffodils and irises. So much magnificent colour all artfully arranged. It is such a magnificent sight.

On our drive from Melbourne to Canberra I had remembered that Floriade was on again but I figured we wouldn't have time in between catching up with family and friends. I am pleased to say that I was wrong! It's one of the many blessing of having older children. You can easily do several things in a day because there's no need for naps or constant snacks!

September 24, 2023
Death of a Salesman

In the last year or so I've been going to the theatre again. When I was a teenager I would attend every performance put on by the Canberra Repertory Society and the Canberra Philharmonic. I've felt that there's something magical about a live performance. The greasepaint and the the actors treading the boards. The spotlights and the orchestra. And that magic happens when the curtain rises and you're transported to another world.

Miss Seventeen has been studying The Crucible for school this year so when I saw that Death of a Salesman was coming to Melbourne's Her Majesty's Theatre, starring Anthony LaPaglia in his Australian stage debut, I just had to get us tickets. Unbelievably I've never seen an Arthur Miller play so I was super psyched to see this production. After all, Miller is known as one of the greatest American playwrights of the twentieth century.

Given the title of the play I wasn't expecting an uplifting afternoon but it wasn't as bleak as I thought it would be either. It was more of a slow burn with characters and moments that stayed with me after the play was over. La Paglia's performance was quiet and understated. The standout for me was the actor playing his wife – Alison Whyte in the role of Linda Loman. Her performance was powerful and painful.

The play was a combination of delusions, dreams, memories and events that played out against a set of bleachers for a baseball game. The actors not involved in the scene sat in the stand instead of being offstage and played the part of the crowd for the game. The story of Willy Loman, the travelling salesman was tragic in every sense of the word and it's easy to see why the play is so famous. What's not so easy to fathom is why it is so popular given its scathing commentary on the unobtainable nature of the great American dream.

Part way through the second half there were some technical difficulties that stopped the play and dropped the curtain. Just before the play recommenced, La Paglia came out on the stage to tell us an anecdote about being on the set of a Miller production. Apparently there were a whole heap of magazines on a table and one had Marilyn Monroe on the cover. The cast would always hide the Marilyn magazine when Miller visited the set except one day they didn't. They all anxiously watched Miller, wondering if he would spot the magazine. He did, flipped through the pages, read a bit, closed the magazine and said, "Well you learn something new everyday.'

September 21, 2023
Poets Are The Best People

One of the best things about attending the Perth Poetry Festival was meeting so many wonderful new people. The audiences were warm and encouraging, my fellow performers were welcoming and friendly and the volunteers and WA Poets Inc folks were supportive and helpful. My whole trip to Perth was so nourishing and inspiring because of all of these beautiful people.

I love talking to new people and hearing their stories, views and opinions. It was wonderful to finally meet instagram buddies Scott Patrick Mitchell and Lisa Collier in person. And to meet Gary di Pazzio and Shey Marque from WA Poets who worked so hard with the rest of the crew to make the impossible possible. To see Laksnhmi R Kanchi again and visit the beautiful wetlands where she was a poet in residence. To talk art with Yael, see Gillian's friendly face in the audience, go for walks with Jaya Penelope and sit in the audience with Elio from the Perth Poetry Club.

I learnt about belligerent bunting from Davina (did you know it's illegal to put up bunting in Perth?). Thanks to Coral, Neil and the crew for a slightly surreal afternoon tea/drinks. Meeting and chatting to Sunil, Moly, Jake and Elizabeth, kindred spirits who know what it is like to come from someplace else. And to all the photographers who snapped so many great photos – I spent most of my time at the festival off my phone so I am super grateful for your photos!

I am so grateful to all of these beautiful people and all the others with whom I shared a conversation or a smile. You made my visit to Perth special and memorable. You turned your city into a welcoming community and made me feel as if I belonged. I'm going to treasure my visit always. People really do make a place and you brought your place to life for me, so thank you a million times and more.

I had such a fabulous time that I didn't want to leave. I will definitely be coming back as soon as I can!

September 20, 2023
Perth Poetry Festival Finale

The Perth Poetry Festival Finale was emceed by the fabulous Scott-Patrick Mitchell at the Switch Theatre on Wellington Street in Perth. I think this intimate venue was my favourite performance space for the festival. It was easy to make eye contact with all the members of the audience and tp see their reactions to my poems.

I was the second performer for the evening and after thanking my lovely husband who was at home all week keeping the home fires burning and looking after our beautiful girls, Gary from WA Poets, who was manning the camera for the Zoom, wished me a happy birthday. At that point the whole audience burst into song! It was a brilliant way to start a performance.

After the performance, Laksh, Gillain and Ro took me out to dinner at the Moon Cafe in Northbridge where we indulged in mocktails and a vegan ice cream for me for dessert. It was the perfect end to a wonderful birthday and a brilliant festival!

Thanks Perth and all the lovely people Meet for making my trip memorable in all the right ways!

September 18, 2023
Perth Poetry Club

When I was exploring Northbridge on my very first day in Perth, I wandered past this funky little diner style cafe with its retro 50s booth seats and promised myself I would come back. I mean with a name like The Moon, how could I resist? At the time I hadn't twigged that this was the venue for Saturday afternoon's Perth Poerty Club at which I would be performing.

The Perth Poetry Club is hosted by Elio to a packed room at the back of the building. It's on every Saturday afternoon and always has a zoom component so anyone can join. There were so many people that eighteen of them didn't get a chance to perform on the open mic! Poetry is alive and well inn Perth I tell you!

For this set I read out a poem from each issue of the Pocketry Almanack that I have published – so far there have been seven issues. If you're an emerging poet who hasn't been published in a journal, had on over to Pocketry. Submissions for issue eight will be opening soon.

Those beautiful Almanack poems from unheard voices deserve to be taken out from time to time and shared with the rest of the world and I am more than happy to introduce them to new audiences so they can meet people and make new friends.

September 16, 2023
Beyond Words Poetry Workshop

The Centre for Stories in Northbridge Western Australia has the best library I've ever seen. When I walked into the building to check out the space before doing my poetry workshop for the Perth Poetry Festival, I fell in love with this room. It's so fabulous that I wanted to move in! They said I could come back and hang out at any time but unfortunately I was so busy with all things Perth Poetry Festival that I didn't get the chance.

I did however return to the Centre for Stories over the weekend to attend all the poetry workshops for the Festival and to host my own workshop, Beyond Words A Liminal Spaces Workshop. The idea behind the workshop was to get people thinking and writing differently by using movement, sound and senses to tap into other areas of the brain. I used games I learnt as a nature connection mentor for the rewinding group, Firekeepers along with meditation and drawing exercises. I followed these up with prompts that used techniques of point of view, collage and personification.

I was worried that I would run out of exercises and prompts for the workshop so I prepared eight prompts just in case. When planning a workshop it's hard to know exactly how long things will take. Once you take into account interaction, discussion and sharing of poems, it becomes a piece of string that can be short or long. I'd thought that we would get six prompts done in the two hours and had planned an extra two, just in case… We ended up doing three of the prompts which leaves me five that can become new workshops for the future. See, nothing gets wasted, not even workshop plans and outlines!

I had a couple of learnings from the worksop. The first writing prompt was for five minutes. One of the participants wrote a very funny poem about the impossibility of doing the set task in five minutes. As a result I extended the writing time for the subsequent prompts (and felt quite proud of myself for being flexible and adapting the workshop on the fly!). The other feedback was that the movement exercise wasn't accessible for people of limited mobility. In future when running this workshop I will make sure that there are chairs people can sit on for this exercise.

Seventeen people came to the workshop and I had some great feedback with one participant saying that the exercises had got them thinking differently. Someone else said that the workshop had helped them write lots of poems and overcome their writer's block. And another person told me that it was the best poetry workshop they had been to recently. All in all I think the workshop was a success.

Seventeen people turned up for my poetry workshop, Beyond Words, A liminal Spaces workshop.

September 16, 2023
Of Lakes

I've been watching Lakshmi R Kanchi (aka Soul Reserve) posting about the Cockburn wetlands and all the amazing events she created when she was their poet in residence. I wanted so badly to visit this beautiful place and this morning my dream came true!

Her husband Ro picked me up from my digs and along with the Washington State poet Laureate, Arianne True and her fiancee Liz, we headed out of town. On our way out, we drove past the Derbal Yarrigan / Swan river which is huge! After the Birrarung Mar in Naarm, I was so surprised to see this mighty river. It looks more like Sydney harbour than a river! We headed south along the coast, stopping at Cottesloe along the way to meet the Indian Ocean. Ro was a great guide telling us so many stories about the places we were driving through.

The wetlands centre in Cockburn is on land that was going to be cut through by a major highway but local residents and scientists banded together to save the bushland. They established the wetlands centre to educate locals, especially children about the beauty and value of the swampy area containing two unique lakes and eco systems. This idea worked because when the government again tried to develop the area, the kickback from voters was immense, stopping the roads and saving the lakes.

On our arrival at the wetlands in Cockburn we were met by Lakshmi, Jaya Penelope and the WA Poets Micro Poet in Residence, Gillian . The centre is a beautiful building that until recently was shared by many local groups, including their oldest scout group in WA. They have just finished the display in the entrance which is filled with imagery and captions in Noongar. Ro introduced us to many of the people working in the wetlands centre, including some of those who fought to save it.

We then walked through the bush to the lake. As we walked along the path about twenty metres (I think, but I'm hopeless at estimating distances!), a kwenda/bandicoot, scurried across the path behind us. It's not often that you see mammals out and about in the middle of the day (except for homo. sapiens that is). As we walked, accompanied by bird song my eyes were everywhere, drinking it all in. Seeing the details, noticing the little things and the big. Trying to see what is different and what is the same. The soil was sandy and the trees were familiar but different.

I was hoping to see some new birds but there were a lot of familiar faces. Kookaburras, fairy wrens, magpies, galahs, ravens and on the lake Eurasian coots, black swans and purple swamp hens. Walking back along the boardwalk from the lake I spotted some smaller birds in the bushes. And then later, some of the endangered black cockatoos flew over the Wetlands centre. After our walk we were treated to a traditional Aussie BBQ cooked by the volunteers. And we met some alpine dingoes.

It was so good to be out of the city. To be in the bush. To be walking the naked land.

Lakshmi's poetry residency has ended and as a farewell gift she left a poetry trail around the wetlands. these boxes contain treasures, writing prompts, waterproof pencils and notebooks so you can add your poetry to the collection. A wonderful idea and a great legacy for a remarkable year of poetry from a brilliant poet.

September 14, 2023