Les Murray and Jan Owen

Seeing Les Murray and Jan Owen together was really special. Les with his casual manner and dry wit compared with Jan’s sweet and careful nature. It was intriguing to see them together as their poetry and approaches to writing are quite the opposite. Les said he doesn’t have trouble ending poems as he just stops them. Jan, on the other hand, said she sometimes struggles for a long time to conclude a poem. I found these insights useful as it is reassuring to know that each poet does things differently and there isn’t necessarily one formula to writing a poem, it is about finding what works for you. I think I found this particularly useful as part of the reason I stopped writing poetry is because I thought I wasn’t doing it right and that there was some special formula. The only special formula is finding something that works for you and rolling with it.

This session was also intriguing as Jan and Les each read a few of their poems. It was good to hear their different styles and structures of poetry side by side as each is quite unique. Jan’s poetry is very polished and precise, whereas Les’ poems are a little bit rougher and perverse. The juxtaposition between their poems and personalities made for an intriguing interaction.

In terms of their inspirations for poems, they each said how sometimes it can come from everyday things. These everyday things included a pork sandwich for Les and a hand me down teapot for Jan. Another reason I stopped writing poetry is I never thought I had anything insightful or unique to say. To know that these two well-known and successful poets sometimes gain inspiration from simple, everyday things has allowed me to realise that there doesn’t have to be any unique idea or magical insight in order to write a poem.

This session taught me that poetry comes in many forms and that poets have varying approaches to their poetry. This has made me realise that I can continue to write poetry, even if it is about something as simple as a pork sandwich.