Poet in Residence in Townsville.

MICHAEL FITZGERALD-CLARKE BEGINS AS THE RESIDENT POET AT THE AITKENVALE LIBRARY

On Thursday morning, 1 September 2011, WITS member and respected poet Michael Fitzgerald-Clarke had his first morning as Poet In Residence at the Aitkenvale library. Michael had barely sat down when he was approached by a library customer, and he spent the next seventy minutes or so in sometimes animated conversation with an inexperienced poet who was keen to discuss a draft of his first, to be self-published, book. Michael offered him advice and counselling on a variety of poetry-related matters, and at the end of it had a satisfied customer. A member of the library staff approached Michael after the man had gone, and thanked him for spending the time with him, as the regular staff didn't have that time available.

Poetry Tip: When drafting a poem, examine what Michael terms "potentially empty" words such as "that", "so", and "the" carefully, to see if they can be omitted without affecting the sense of the poem.

MICHAEL FITZGERALD-CLARKE HAS ANOTHER POEM PUBLISHED

Michael's lighthearted poem "Helen Marie Gunz; and Me" has recently appeared in the 1 September 2011 post of the American e-journal Dr. Hurley's Snake-Oil Cure (http://snakeoilcure.com/). The poem was in response to the journal's call for submissions on photos that appear in the Smithsonian Institution's public archive. The pic of Helen Marie Gunz (displayed with the poem) convinced Michael she might be the Ideal Woman...