Southern Downs Poet, Marco Gliori admits that standing behind a microphone, encouraging people to smile, steering proceedings, and sharing his community’s stories has become a huge part of his life.
Some of the yarns he tells are inspired by local experiences, others by distant landscapes and characters he has met, whilst taking the road less travelled.
Allora features in Marco’s new book Poet on the Verandah, with poems such as Ode to Golfers first recited at the Allora Golf Club at the opening of the Maher- Rickert Bridge, plus ‘Ode to Netballers’ recited for Laura Geitz at the ceremony whereby she and Wayne Bennet were inducted to the Allora Sport’s Museum’s Hall of Fame, not to mention his poem ‘Pride of Place’ a poem recited by Marco on U-Tube featuring the creative talents of the Allora Photography Group, and The Melbourne Cup Came Waltzing written for last year’s Cup Visit.
As expected, Poet on the Verandah also offers up a good slice of humour, for Marco is, and always will be, a cheeky country boy from a rural town who was labelled a distractive influence in class by most teachers. A rugby league-playing former Detective of Italian extraction who has spent over three decades travelling Australia, performing at Festivals such as the Tamworth Country Music Festival and The Gympie Muster, all the while pausing to work with school students, sharing his talents and passing tips for creative writing.
And the last word from the man himself –
“In rising to the challenge to keep alive a wonderful Aussie tradition, bush verse and yarnspinning, I accept that I am no Banjo Paterson, but a reasonably popular contemporary poet who was lucky enough to find enough people in my audience to keep doing what I love. Now, sitting back on my verandah, I get to share some of my more recent poems and ballads, together with a collection of deeply personal life stories that are contained in the middle of this book.
Through these yarns, I get to reflect on the journey that I and others, have taken to get me here”.
This article appeared in the Allora Advertiser, 13 December 2023.
