Bronwyn Lovell and Darren Parker make for a fascinating double bill of poetic delights. Both hailing from the suburbs of Western Sydney, they each present personal works that show a range of language, story and humour.
Bronwyn Lovell begins, "I want to give you a word," and this gift is a recurring theme in her audio-visual performance as she charts a narrative through loss, love and growing up. She begins in multicultural Fairfield, Western Sydney, then progresses through the loss of her nanna, moving overseas, and relationships. Her imagery is rich: a hot air balloon is a fleeting lover, the language of maths describes a relationship ("no emotions but square roots"); and her language delightful. The poems are supported by animation and sound that draw you in to the poems' whimsical universe. Bronwyn, in her performance, strikes all the right notes between pathos and irony - able to laugh at her impulsive loves, and in the next line evoke the grief of losing a relative.
Darren 'Peter' Parker (his mum was a spiderman fan) grew up in 'Cabra', Western Sydney and his poetry is grungy and political. Darren opens by introducing himself as 'part Aboriginal, part Irish, I'm a lepra-coon' which sets the tone for a anarchic series of poetic attacks on everything Darren sees wrong with Australia. Half-stand up, half soapbox, Darren's poems grow out of anecdotes and rants, the language is hard and unrestrained. Darren's pet hate is racism, but nothing is sacred, from religion and politics to exes and tattoos. Attacking non-smokers he asks, "are smokers being forced to live longer so they can consume longer?" It's dark, it's cynical, and it's hilarious in all sorts of wrong ways.
Bronwyn and Darren will appear again in Poetry Double Bill on Wed 24th August 8:30pm.
Photo by Amy Dyke
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