I come from a long tradition of bush poets from the west
You may think that we’re old foggies and we’re maybe past our best
But Henry and the Banjo wrote their poetry in rhyme
And it may not be your cup of tea but it’s stood the test of time
For a century or more has passed and still it’s in demand
Throughout the length and breadth of McKellar’s ‘Wide brown land’
These days a lot of people claim that they write poetry
But they go and leave the rhymes out so it’s all just prose to me
They say it’s too restrictive finding rhymes for every line
But the bush poets all do it and we seem to manage fine
So passing prose as poetry means they aim for second rate
But if they call it prose instead some could be classed as great
There’s no end of subject matter, which will suit a rhythmic beat
Just present it with panache and a lot of metric feet
So why act all pretentious claim they’re poets when their not
Why not take pride in writing prose if that’s the skill they’ve got
I reckon it’s about the name, it’s sounds cool to be a poet
But there is no name for what they do, I reckon that they know it
And saying you write prose maybe sounds a little lame
So they’re redefining poetry and hijacking the name
But why should they denigrate our art just cause they cannot cope
A poet should write poetry, is that too much to hope?
But if it doesn’t rhyme then they can argue till they’re blue
They’ll be just another bunch of jumped up prosers in my view
© Greg Joass
24/05/2018
(Written for a poetry slam in Denmark WA. I didn’t win, but I got out without being lynched!)