Tuesday, June 22, 2021

SILLYpoetry A KIND OF LAUNCESTON TRADITION

 

Please click on an image to enlarge

In 2001 the Launceston LONGpoem was a community initiative 'curated' by Tim Thorne that like worldSILLYweek affords a social licence to be 'transgressive' and exploitative. Contributors were required to forgo any intellectual property in their contribution.

It turned out that Launceston had a kind of subliminal and latent cohort of transgressive anonymous 'poets' who given the chance, were prepared to contribute 'some really SILLYstuff'. Indeed, the efforts of some raised the ire of the city's Health Inspector who called upon the services 'the cops' known at the time as 'Deanies Meanies' who attended looking to control the 'despicable transgression'.

IN 2021, two decades on, revving up Launceston's transgressive inclination to be poetically transgressive in worldSILLYweek might just alleviate some social tensions. Just a thought, on behalf of a friend.

NB: The four contributions above a samples of the LONGpoem more of which are archived with the Tasmanian State Library.

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