For more than 35 years established and emerging poets alike have been reading and performing their poetry at Newcastle's longest running poetry night, Poetry at the Pub.
The Wickham Park Hotel has hosted the event for the past decade, but now the poets are going back to where it all began, The Grand Hotel in Newcastle's central business district.
On Monday, April 29, 50 or so people spent the evening drinking, eating and sharing words in The Grand's recently renovated gaming room, where publican Lukas Thodas has replaced the half dozen poker machines with tables, booths, taxidermy animals and other unique decorative items.
Each Poetry at the Pub features a special guest poet and audience members are invited to get up and read. You don't need to be a reader to attend, but everyone is welcome and encouraged to do so. A gold coin donation cup gets passed around at every night, but no one is ever turned away.
According to poet and publicity officer Gillian Swain, returning to The Grand feels like a homecoming.
"Thirty six years ago this little crowd of people came here and started reading poetry to each other at this pub in this very room," she says.
"I came here in 1988 after I finished school."
Swain listed some of the original Poetry at the Pub participants, including playwright Bill Iden and poets Norman Talbot, Glenn Beatty and Meg Dunn.
Monday night's featured poet was Canadian poet and performer Cat Kidd, who has been touring Australia and performed at the National Folk Festival. This was the final show of her tour before she returns to Montreal, and she gave it her all. She never missed a beat or looked at notes as she recited zoological rhyming monologues while moving to soundscapes. While blending the natural and the mystic, she spoke at length of hyenas and sea peaches.
Before and after Kidd's mesmerising performance, plenty of poets got up from the crowd to read. Readers also performed via Zoom, as, since COVID, Poetry at the Pub have live-streamed their events.
Poetry at the Pub occurs on the third and fifth Monday of every month. As part of their new arrangement with The Grand, featured poets who read on the fifth Monday are paid by the pub and also get a free night's accommodation.
Poetry at the Pub is largely a labour of love, operating through donations and membership fees. Membership is $15 or $10 concession, and all members have the opportunity to be published in their yearly anthology. It's a great way to get started in writing poetry.
Mischief makers David Graham and Clark Gormley are president and vice president (respectively) of Poetry at the Pub. They spoke to me after Monday night's inaugural homecoming.
"It was a fantastic turnout, the room was full with people we hadn't seen before or hadn't seen in a long time," Graham says.
"It's a weird cult," Gormley jokes about Poetry at the Pub.
"If you haven't found religion, you might find it here," Graham adds.
The next Poetry at the Pub will be on Monday, May 20 at 7.30pm at The Grand Hotel. Sydney-based poet Les Wicks will be the special guest poet. This will be the second time he's performed at Poetry at the Pub.
Search Poetry at the Pub Newcastle on Facebook to learn about future events and guests.
