Poetry finds its voice in Euroa

The inaugural Friends of Euroa Library Poetry Competition proved a hit on Thursday 29 October when an audience of over 50 met at the library for the announcement of the event's winners. With selected readings from the five categories’ winners and honourably mentioned poets dotted throughout the one-hour event, local lovers of writing – and local poets – enjoyed a night of emotion, creativity, and realism. There were an astounding 80 Primary school poems entered, along with strong numbers in the Secondary and Open sections. Competitors were invited to reflect on Euroa, community life, landscape, and the bushfire year. Goulburn Valley Libraries CEO Sallyanne Boyle said the first-ever competition was a thrill for her to introduce, coming on the back of the library's earlier literary competition. “This is so exciting," she said. "And it is extra exciting for me because I also got to be a part of the first literary award this year, so it is my second literary responsibility." Ms Boyle also said the competition suited Euroa ‘perfectly’, being able to draw connections with the bushfires and the library’s role as a gathering place during the immediate aftermath. "A lot of people came to this library after the start of the year with the fires. "Euroa Library was that place – that place of quiet, of sanctuary, of storytelling, of togetherness. "This just seems like such a fitting idea...to make a poetry competition about the year and about how we can look at that year." In introducing the judges, Ms Boyle quoted from Irish poet David Whyte: Poetry is a break for freedom. The Primary section’s judges Heather Bamford and Judy McLean said they expected the topic may have been challenging because of the age range; however, they agreed the entries had been ‘thoughtful and focused’, writing about Euroa through personal experiences. Many young writers tackled the January bushfires, with the winner of the 11-13 years category Jayden Osredkar's poem Fire Is Coming particularly impressing. "He had wonderful imagery and an economic use of words," Ms Bamford said. "He really showed the developing situation that he had to deal with." In the distance, the sky turns smoky red... We race in and out of the house one by one, filling the trailer with important items. Axel Salakowski received an Honourable Mention for the Secondary section with The Winding Winds of Euroa Park. He said after the event that writing was something he had always enjoyed, mostly through his schoolwork. "I reckon poetry is designed to convey a mood or a feeling,” Axel said. “Poetry is a lot more than other forms of writing.” Although his career aspirations don’t aim for the pen or keyboard – he wants to be a welder – Axel will still enjoy writing and poetry ‘on the side’, having already proven to himself the discovery of one of poetry's central purposes. It was Aston Georgiadis with A Poem About Euroa who won the Secondary section as judged by Helene Castles. The Year seven student said he was not ‘all that seasoned’ as a poet, despite having done the library’s poetry writing course before the competition. “I decided to give it a go,” the aspiring footballer said. “Maybe I might come back and do it again next year.” Published poet and judge of the Open category David Kelly said choosing winners had been difficult and that judges of poetry are always looking for originality, feeling, and strong language. "I look for a tightness of language, a fluidity in the language, hopefully something startling and new that you haven't thought of before," Mr Kelly said. "It's about language and content and feeling. "You're dealing with people's heart-and-soul." Mr Kelly read aloud Sean Matthews’ Ghosts of the Strathbogie Ranges, a dedication to the regions’ first inhabitants, the Taungurung. The tales are told of ancient times when across the landscape and through the glens first people travelled along on songlines for sustenance and dreaming of their kin. Their spectres still haunt these tablelands taking only what's needed, leaving the rest. Sometimes we glimpse their looks like bands, shadows flickering through the trees. Their homes are closed, barely survived. The existence they shared is a phase that is cut down by time. Honourable mentions went to Sean Matthews for that piece and also to Maria Sartori's The Northern, a laconic set of verse about Euroa's iconic hotel. Noelle Elsegood’s emotional reaction to winning the Open section with her poem My Euroa was enough of a victory speech, and her gratitude to the competition’s organisers and judges came through teary eyes. She then read her poem, which will be published along with other entries in next week's edition of The Euroa Gazette. When Mr Kelly – a Euroa resident – was asked if the poems had enlightened him to anything new from the fabric of the local community, he gave pause for thought. "No, they more reinforced things I already knew and felt about Euroa and the area; they rubber-stamped things. “However, sometimes a poem can describe a new concept – a concept that you hadn’t considered before.”