A roaring fire and two glasses of red

The Louis Joel Poetry Pod aims to be a forum for discussion about poetry, what people like and what they don’t and why. A strong emphasis is placed upon making poetry accessible and fun with a diverse range of writers, forms, media etc. Each podcast will have interviews with poets, with people who convene poetry appreciation groups, with editors or producers of poetry magazines and perhaps most importantly with members of the community outlining some of their favourite poems or song lyrics, and why etc.  The latter is a segment we are calling Hobson’s Choice as it reflects our little beachside community in Altona in the Hobson Bay area just to the west of Melbourne, Australia’s CBD.

In our seventh episode we return to where we began, with Dave and Col interviewing Peter and taking a deep dive into three poems. Whilst this tends to be a serious adventure there is a place for humour – perhaps a different way of looking at some pertinent topics around diversity and a close examination of the part a certain piece of furniture plays in all our lives. This episode, unlike the last, is free of venereal disease.

Following this we are fortunate enough to be able to interview noted West Gippsland poet, Rodney Williams. He also provides three important poems of his as well as some genuinely educative insights into certain forms of poetry – most notably the triolet and the villanelle.

Rodney and Peter have been great friends for decades and during that time have spent countless hours reading and discussing poetry, frequently with a glass of red in hand and a roaring fire.

Hobson’s Choice returns with an interview with Eloise Wilson who reads a poem from one of our favourites!

We would like to hear from you!  As part of our Hobsons Choice segment, we would like to hear from you, even while we are on a break!  If you would like to be interviewed about a poem or if you just want to share your love of poetry, send us an email on [e-mail]. Constructive criticism and praise are most welcomed!

 

Poems discussed in this episode:

West by Peter Roberts

https://inreview.com.au/inreview/books-and-poetry/2024/09/04/poem-west/

The Spectrum Strikes Back by Peter Roberts

https://beatnikcowboy.com/2023/08/10/peter-roberts/

Bed by Peter Roberts ...the near approach a bed may show of human bliss to human woe. Samuel Johnson

1/.

It is said that those who hate to go to bed fear death and those who hate to get up fear life. Still, he didn’t move in the laser sun of the morning. Her words had stung him. ‘Don’t you get sick of saying thank you! Try doing something for yourself!’ He had wanted to be a moving target instead of a sitting duck. The bed wrapped its tentacles around him – like a refuge or a gaol.

2/.

This was the moment she adored as the opiates kicked in. She was blind-sided by the diagnosis, shattered by the prognosis. The large window afforded her a view of the world in all its hues – moving slower, but vivid in a way she never imagined. She was fortunate it seemed . Managed pain, comfy bed. Her children were conceived here in joy. She wanted to do it all again!

3/.

It just felt so disparate, so wonderful. To be sure he had fantasised for many years about this evening, but convinced that it would never occur. They had met sometime prior, but when the invitation came he was shocked, elated, and full of trepidation in one moment. After they departed he snuggled under the covers, a letter placed in an envelope, finally sent.

Case Moth by Rodney Williams

In a brotherless boyhood I felt enthralled each time I found the covering to a case moth holding on tight to some fence or shed adhered and suspended as a caterpillar set to poke a gleaming black he