Taking poetry to the community

Woy Woy resident Ms Jocelyn Freeman has been selected as one of 30 poets nationwide to take poetry to the community through the Australian Poetry Centre.

Ms Freeman said it was time for closet poets to get their work off the page and join a local writing group to share their words.

"There comes a point in time when you realise as a poet there is an essentially social aspect to writing it," said Ms Freeman.

"You can only stuff your poems in the drawer for so long.

"You need to communicate it.

"You can't remain isolated," she said.

Ms Freeman said she aimed to do writing every Thursday morning at the Gosford Regional Gallery at Caroline Bay.

"I hope it brings more writers out of the wood," she said.

"When you think about it, poetry is one of the oldest and most meaningful forms of the written word.

"We start engaging with it when we're kids, playing around with words and getting a sense of their rhythm and meaning.

"Even as adults, we use poetry daily for special occasions and to express ourselves, to read and reflect on life," she said.

Ms Freeman said life would be boring without poetry in our daily lives.

"Poetry cuts through so much when it is done well.

"Some of our most memorable literature has poetry in it.

"It can be romantic, funny, bawdy, wry, sad or soft.

"But one thing it has to do is challenge our perceptions of things and make us see the world again with fresh eyes," she said.

Ms Freeman said she hopes by the end of her residency at Christmas, she will have motivated enough people to create an event at the cafe.

She is encouraging poets to drop off a poem or a message to a contribution box in the main foyer.

"People can drop their poems with email contact details attached and we can work towards creating a poetry event at the cafe towards the end of the year," she said.

Email, 8 Jul 2011 Jocelyn Freeman, Woy Woy