Hot Gig

I was at the hottest show in town tonight. All the tickets had sold out. I did not know that so I turned up quarter of an hour before the start. The ticket lady told me to wait to see how full the hall would be. Extra seats were crammed into every available space of Thoresby College. There were people perching on window sills. Other late comers stood in the hallway but I got a seat right by the door with an excellent view. And the occasion of this? Australian poetry.

The stars of the show were Les Murray, Clive James and Peter Porter. Clive James was undoubtedly the main draw on account of his television work but I was rather taken by Les Murray, a poet I did not know but now I have heard him speak I would like to know more about his work. Having been to Australia I had a prior interest in the country of origin. I was intrigued by the language and odd references to flora and fauna as well as the frequent allusions to history.

The hall was hot and the readings were hypnotic but I could not help but wonder how the poets felt when they spotted members of the audience nodding off to sleep. I also noted that festival goers walked across the grass in the quad. The vandals! And they had grey hair too! That is something frowned upon by the Thoresby College grass police aka the King's Lynn Preservation Trust. They normally spend their time reprimanding Citizens Advice Bureau advisers for trampling down the vegetation. The CAB is also housed in Thoresby College. This time, however, the delinquents were elderly and middle aged festival goers.