Spoken Word

Ashleigh Russell takes a sharp and uncompromising look at issues of mental illness and how one lives with it for decades. Her poetry is often dark, certainly insightful, and may trigger discomfort in some listeners. There are, however, significant moments of positivity, joy and relief, which are beautifully articulated by Ashleigh, not only in her actual poetry but also in her chat with Ela.

This programme features the poetry of long time 3CR stalwart, the late Lisa Bellear. Jen Jewel Brown has recently edited a beautiful anthology of Lisa's poetry for University of Western Australia Publishing. For twenty years, Lisa presented Not Another Koori Show on 3CR before her untimely death. She was not only a poet and broadcaster, but also an academic, social worker, photographer, theatre practitioner, Collingwood City councillor and, of course, passionate political fighter for Indigenous peoples.

This week's guest poet is Morgaine van Wingerden, who will be flying to the USA very soon, as a member of the team representing Australia at the National Poetry Slam in Chicago.Morgaine's work pulls no punches, and, amongst other things, she shares with us some of her dark and raw insights into child and motherhood, family violence, modern dating horrors, and the importance of writing in dealing with past trauma.

Laundry Man aka Jakob Boyd

The remarkable Hunch (aka Daymon Greulich) performs a spectacular set of spoken utterance. He analyses himself, his inner psyche, the world around him, and anything else that might get in the way, at a rate of knots. Just when you thought it couldn't get any faster, he ups the beats per minute to a breathtaking tempo. Norman Gunston on speed. Between pieces, he catches his breath to answer questions from 3CR Spoken Word presenters Ela Fornalska and Santo Cazzati.

Our guest poet this week is Laniyuk.Laniyuk is a Larrakia, Kungarrakan and Gurindji poet, living in Melbourne/Naarm. She was recently awarded with the First Nations Writer’s Residency in the 2017 Noted Festival, and Overlands' Writers’ Residency in 2018. She is a contributor to the book, Colouring the Rainbow: Blak Queer and Trans Perspectives. In the spirit of the theme of NAIDOC Week, "Because of her, We can", she talks about the strong and important women in her life, and the power of the arts in healing and imagining better futures.

Girls On Key Director and poet, Anna Forsyth, reads from her second poetry book, Beatific Toast. Interviewed by Di Cousens.

Santo Cazzati presents Jay J Larkin, convenor of the gig Ms Millies, held monthly at Afro Hub in North Carlton. She talks about what motivated her to start this gig and about her interest in poetry in general. We hear substantial pieces by her covering issues of gender, sexuality and race, written and delivered in a pointed and incisive style.