and I’ve laminated some garden poems by famous poets for a poetry quiz, all part of getting ready to be a poet in residence for London’s Open Garden Squares Weekend 17-18 June. I’m one of several poets in various gardens thanks to The Poetry School. Weekend tickets at very moderate prices!
Now I just need to be in a really good poetic frame of mind when the time comes!
It’s a wonderful weekend where one can visit places not usually open to the public. I hope to pop off to one or two myself. But most of time I’ll be based in Earl’s Court
Square.
I don’t know the area very well but I vaguely remember it was quite rudely referred to as ‘Kangaroo Valley’ in the 60s.
I have quite a few relatives who emigrated to Australia after the war so by the 60s a constant stream of aunts, but mainly cousins, were descending on my parents’ house in Highgate. Some stayed for months and one or two got pretty good jobs. But all returned to Australia in the end.
Famous Australians like Germaine Greer, Clive James, Barry Humphreys and others made unforgettable contributions to our lives in Britain and some never went back!
I’ve been reading and enjoying some of the Australian poet Les Murray’s poems, the sort of thing one does when one’s research net gets rather wide! But I have also learned of famous residents that have lived in Earls Court Square including two famous ballerinas and even a little about the sex life of Plane trees!
Extract from Wikepedia about Les Murray
Leslie Allan “Les” Murray (born 17 October 1938) is an Australian poet, anthologist and critic. His career spans over forty years and he has published nearly 30 volumes of poetry as well as two verse novels and collections of his prose writings. His poetry has won many awards and he is regarded as “the leading Australian poet of his generation”. He has also been involved in several controversies over his career and has been rated by the National Trust of Australia as one of the 100 Australian Living Treasures.
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