A Great day for the Girrls!

CONGRATULATIONS JULIA GILLARD!  FIRST AUSTRALIAN WOMAN PRIME MINISTER!

The Common Shrew says to all our daughters and grand-daughters ' I told you girls can do anything! '

Meanwhile, the Wiz says 'I just can't put my paw on it, but I really like the look of that woman!'

Badger-fondling: No. 11 in an occasional series entitled 'Harmless Hobbies for Mad Old Bags'.

So?   You had a better suggestion?

'Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations' *

She may not have the sweater, but take it from the Shrew, Ynes Sanz' recitation of 'sixty-nine' comes close!

After all, she was reading *Ferlinghetti in the fifties when you weren't maybe even a twinkle in your bread-stashin' Daddy's eye ...

So get yourself to Riverbend for Poetry on the deck June 22!



You can make a booking here.

Bloomsday 2010

The Common Shrew is proud to celebrate her birthday on Bloomsday.





























Here's a photo of young Molly Bloom, in the shade of an olive tree in the Alameida Gardens,
Gibraltar, rushing home late to a scolding after an assignation under the fig trees.

Here's to embracing life and here's to us all on such a day in the writer's year.

Poetry on the Deck, Riverbend Books Bulimba

Come out and support your local poets!

night after night i have written poetry for you
on your typewriter
and this big brute of a rat who used to be a poet
comes out of his hole when it is done
and reads it and sniffs at it
he is jealous of my poetry
he used to make fun of me when we were both human
he was a punk poet himself
and after he reads it he sneers
and then he eats it

-archy the cockroach - Don Marquis,archy and mehitabel

Queensland Poetry Festival is proud to partner with Queensland Writers Centre and Riverbend Books to present the Riverbend Poetry Series, A State of Writing initiative.

Now in its fifth year, the Riverbend Poetry Series has inspired, entertained and delighted audiences again in 2010.

The date for your diary: Tuesday June 22

Queensland Poetry Festival, QLD Writers Centre & Riverbend Books are proud to present the final event in the Riverbend Poetry Series for 2010. Join us on the Riverbend deck as we launch the 2010 QLD Poetry Festival Program with readings from three of this year's programmed artists: award winning poet Ynes Sanz, rhyme-spitting word-dynamo Darkwing Dubs and the soulfully elegant Suzanne Jones.

And as this is the final event for 2010, we are going out with a bang, launching ‘A Million Bright Things' CD which captures some of the best readings and performances from QPF 2009. To launch the CD, members of the QPF Committee and some of the featured local talent will read a selection of poems from the CD. Indeed, this is going to be a gig not to be missed!

Bookings are essential and can be made by contacting Riverbend Books. Ticket price includes sushi and a glass of wine. All events begin at 6.30pm.

Date: Tuesday 22 June

Location: Riverbend Books, 193 Oxford St. Bulimba

Time: Doors open for the event at 6pm for a 6:30pm start

Tickets: $10 available through Riverbend Books and include sushi and complimentary wine. To purchase tickets, call Riverbend Books on (07) 3899 8555 (07) 3899 8555 or book online at www.riverbendbooks.com.au

These events are always hugely popular, so book early to avoid disappointment!

Nigel's Nightie: No. 2 in an occasional series entitled 'Smokin' Jackets'

OK I know there's some prestidigitation involved in this peignoir but the chance of a guest appearance from celebrity like Nigel from Life with Dogs was just too tempting!

The Wiz had been hoping for a green velvet number with a cravat, but a dog can dream (as long as it doesn't involve too much howling and those annoying running movements with the legs !)