A memorable poetry soiree with Peter Bakowski

Soiree. What a lovely word. First used in the early 1800s, it derives from the French word soir meaning evening, and it means an evening party or social gathering, especially one held for a particular purpose [1]. Last Saturday night Sweetheart Vivienne and I hosted a poetry soiree. Six weeks ago Peter Bakowski, a successful Melbourne poet [2, 3] emailed Sweetheart Vivienne that he’d be in Tasmania in early October for the Tasmanian Poetry Festival [4], and asking if we’d be interested in a private house poetry reading. We immediately agreed. We invited 12 people who were all excited by the idea and accepted pronto. So 17 people attended including Peter, his wife Helen and their son Walter. Befitting the occasion, the food people brought was sumptuous [5]. Sweetheart Vivienne introduced Peter who spoke about and then read poems from several of his books, and patiently answered questions. After the main course he served up a second helping of his wonderful poetry. Peter, a tall and thin 55-year-old, is courteous and humble. He said he writes ‘clear poetry’, i.e. poetry that’s accessible to the average person. And it is so. Undoubtedly. He mentioned his favourite poets include Leonard Cohen and Ted Kooser (who, I wrote in early 2009, are mine too; though I was a poetry plebeian) [6]. Last Saturday night, the latter started to change. What a successful and memorable soiree it was [7]. Grateful thanks, Peter.

farmdoc's blog post number 245

I reckon it was in 1973. Sweetheart Vivienne, darling Kate and I were living in Finchley in North London, and I was studying statistics and epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. We attended a Judy Collins concert. I don’t remember where it was held, or any of the songs she sang. Bar one: ‘Suzanne’. I thought it was one of the most beautiful songs I’d ever heard. I soon learnt that ‘Suzanne’ had been written by the Canadian poet Leonard Cohen. And so began my love affair with Cohen’s work – admittedly his music more than his poetry – which has spanned 35 years. So far. I’ve been thinking of my other favourite Cohen songs. I’ve decided on ‘Bird on a Wire’, ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘The Future’. I think the man’s a genius. His singing voice is unusual. Arguably even droll. But it suits his words perfectly. And in turn his words suit his music perfectly. Each one of his songs is exquisite. A week ago this Age article announced that Cohen will be in Australia a month from now: ‘…bad things sometimes happen to great people and in 2005 Cohen discovered that his entire fortune had been stolen by his former manager, which has forced him to undertake a world tour to recoup his losses’. He’s now 74-years-old.