My parents were both photographers with many artistic interests including theatre and writing. I experienced lots of poetry and songs from an early age including nonsense poetry, popular song and musical theatre, classical and contemporary literature and music. My favourites from the early years include Hillaire Belloc, Lewis Carroll, Noel Coward, Cole Porter and The Beatles.
Would you say your childhood and teenage experience of poetry has had a distinct influence on how you write poetry now, and why?
I started writing poetry when I was 11 or 12 and, while my teenage poetry was consumed with the emotional intensity and confusion of youth, it is writing with playfulness and humour that has always been how I write, even when it's about serious themes.
Who is another poet whose poetry you admire and why?
Leonard Cohen, because he is both a poet and a songwriter of distinct quality, passion and exquisite touch in both of poetry and lyrics.
How would you summarise one of your poems in one paragraph?
'iAm Therefore iPad' is a humorous historical survey of human communication with wordplay included.
How would you describe the appeal of this poem to readers?
It's a topical take on new media & technology in which I've used an iPad while performing it, but it also follows a chronology from clay to computer tablets, and it asks what we are all really doing in cyberspace.
Could you share a stanza or small section of this poem?
The Hindus installed a virtual veDICS
The ancient Greeks downloaded The iLIAD
Vikings upgraded it with their ePICS
Gutenberg came up with moving type-PADS
Mass media probed privates made pubLICS
Until at long last we all had our iPADS
As ubiquitous as any meDICS
We're no longer nobodies or NoMADs!
iAM THEREFORE iPAD! iAM THERFORE iPAD!!
iAM THEREFORE iPAD!!!
How would you describe the contribution this stanza or small section makes to the poem?
It's a wry commentary on how much we assume we gained with each advance in gadgetry.
Would you describe your poetry primarily as narrative, thematic, character portrait, or how would you describe your poetry?
My poetry is often written to be performed at specific events or functions - so I weave back and forth between lots of different poetic techniques. If it's for a friend's birthday it's mainly character portrait with an infusion of narrative, for instance. If it's for an exhibition opening, it's more thematic.
Do you read your poetry aloud to people? If so, how would you describe the size and response of your listening audiences?
I perform poetry regularly at open mic nights, talent contests, poetry slams, functions, launches & other occasions in the persona of my heteronym Danksta Downunder. The audiences have varied in size from half a dozen to over a thousand people, and the response has mostly been very positive because I usually get people laughing & engaging with what's happening while managing to get any deeper messages across as well. Some people don't get it at first, but I've found that they often come back and warm to the way that I perform poetry.
Do you write groups of poems to form collections? If so, how were the poems connected in your most recent collection?
In 2010 I worked with a local multimedia artist, Judy Barrass. to publish a thematic chapbook as part of a larger event known as NeoGeography, a regional arts collaboratiion involving 5 artists in different media. The chapbook is titled 'All Other Destinations', which is a local feature of roadsigns all over Noosa that confuse & bemuse locals and visitors alike. So the poems all focus on various aspects of Noosa-centric lives while at the same time pondering the multitudinuos facets of what a phrase like All Other Destinations really means.
Author website: http://www.facebook.com/#!/hamish.danks.brown - You can find my poems in the notes section of my profile. I also have 2 Danksta Downunder clips on YouTube & a few other experimental clips on other websites.
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