Poetry Inspirations

Authenticity

| June
Presenting at OzComicCon Panel on Authenticity of Women’s Voices in Writing March 2022
To young writers everywhere 
            looking for your authentic voice
and to create authentic voices
            look into herstory for inspirations 
listen and observe your 
            mothers, sisters, daughters, and yourself 
Ask questions
         whatever gender you are 

         you can do the following (see poem).

Authenticity

To write with authenticity is 
   choosing 
          to write with truth
        putting aside any 
          shackles, biases, and oppressions 
                being honest, courageous, 
                   creative, skilful, and 
                          brilliant.

It’s moving to where there is 
              balance
            finding our voices in all their 
                diversity 
               winging their ways into 
                 every writing genre;
                    popular to poetic,
                      academic to artistic, protesting, 
                           questioning
                                and free
                  respecting and remembering those 
                          paved the way for us.

                        (c) June Perkins
Phyllis Wheaton, First African American Woman to earn something from her writing. She was a poet.

To find out more visit the reflection on the panel at

Oz Comic Con Home Grown, Brisbane

True Narratives

Ocean Series

| June

In this piece I take a canva template for an instagram post as my inspiration and structure for a poem.

I balance the text and the image and insert a question in the search window.

This is the first in a series reflecting on the ocean and all that it stands for and asks of us.

I will work with patterns of repetition between and within pieces.

(c) June Perkins

An Art Adventure at the Queensland Art Gallery

| June

Copy of June cover page
Sidney Long, Spirit of the Plains, Yvonne Koolmatrie’s Hot Air Balloon, June Perkins, poem Spirit of the Plains, Images Courtesy Queensland Art Gallery

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Follow the Angel, Follow the Feathers, Follow the Art!

Imagine you are in a Hot Air Balloon

 

Discover a fresh perspective on the Australian Collection with Words & Pictures, an ongoing project that invites local artists and writers to respond to artworks in the Australian Collection. Take inspiration, and use the pencils and paper provided at the stations to create your own response through drawing or writing.

Only small extracts of the  poems and writing are here to encourage you to go visit and read them on location!

The Spring Program has been written by  Dr June Perkins.

The poems and stories are now up, September to November 2018

Queensland Art Gallery

Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art

 

SPRING 2018

This season’s Words & Pictures inspiration comes from June Perkins, Brisbane-based poet and children’s author. June has developed an interactive journey through the Australian Collection through poems and micro-stories for visitors of all ages, with particular appeal for children and families: Art Adventures in the Australian Collection.

Look for Words & Pictures labels alongside the following artworks. If you’d like to follow the writer’s journey, visit the works in the following order.

  1. John Perceval Sculpture: The Herald Angel 1958
  2. Yvonne Koolmatrie Hot-air balloon 2006
  3. Landscape wall, Gallery 10
  4. Sydney Long, Spirit of the Plains 1897
  5. Sonja Carmichael Deranji Dabayil (Rocky place, healing waters): Baskets of Culture 2017
  6. Ian Fairweather, Epiphany 1962
  7. Michael Stevenson, The gift (from ‘Argonauts of the Timor Sea’) 2004-2006
  8. Ray Crooke Woman with blossoms 1962-1963
  9. Fred Williams Echuca landscape 1961
  10. William Delafield Cook A haystack 1982
  11. Rosalie Gascoigne Lamp lit 1989
  12. Irene Chou The universe is within our hearts 1992

June cover page-3
Poem June Perkins, John Perceval’s Herald Angel, Yvonne Koolmatrie’s Hot Air Balloon, Images Courtesy Queensland Art Gallery

Beckoning Autumn

| June

Collin Key Flickr Woman walking with her dog through an autumn landscape

Come burnt orange

golden yellow and burnished red

leaves.

 

Bring us

relief from heat waves

and air conditioners.

 

Remember my light red jumper

and favourite boots

They’re out once more.

 

Loosen your leaves

to reveal sculptural trees

on the hillsides.

 

Let the fading days of summer

whisper listening to autumn jazz

with a milo.

 

By June Perkins

 

An Invitation Poem

This poetry idea is based on ideas in Barbara Esbensen’s book A Celebration of Bees: Helping Children Write Poetry

You write a poem like this when you want something to happen, like a season, event or a birthday party.

Published on Australian Children’s Poetry

 

Acrostic River on Australian Children’s Poetry Blog

| June

Andrew Matthews, some rights reserved, Franklin River

I just love the Australian Children’s poetry blog, mainly because it shares such a variety of poets with diverse styles and many interesting prompts.

There are funny, serious, rhyming, non rhyming,  scientific and reflective poems. 

I have shared some interviews with some of the poets featured there on my Ripple Poetry blog in a series called Ten things about Poetry and Me if you would like to go read them.

This is my latest contribution on Australian Children’s Poetry, published earlier this week.

 

Three Trips Down the River

 

I  – A  Bed Time Story

Rainforest children fall

Into green dreams

Visions

Embracing nature’s eyes

Releasing their love for salmon.

 

II-  Night Time Wishing

Releasing time

In my heart for

Visions of night fishing with Poppy

Evenings of searching for the perfect spot

Remembering our smiles at my first catch.

 

III –  The Franklin

Revealing wild rivers

In the journeys they inspire

Visions for tourist and visitors

Entranced by nature’s eyes

Recipes are made for protective renewal.

June Perkins

First published on Australian Children’s Poetry June 13th 2017

Guest at Children’s Book Academy Blog

| June

Presenting at Sandcliffe Writers Festival photo courtesy of Jo Hoffman

“One of the best parts of running the Children’s Book Academy is seeing the beautiful books that our students make. This one is from June Perkins who took our Self-Publishing with Crowdfunding course, co-taught by Jed Alexander and myself. Magic Fish Dreaming is truly gorgeous, getting rave reviews, and most importantly getting into children’s hands in June’s native Australia.

June did not want to wait for an editor or agent and the incredibly slow process of getting contracted and published. Because it’s a book of poems, which also makes it harder to be picked up by a traditional publisher, June was wise to follow her heart and take her destiny into her own hands to create the book that she wanted. With the help of her illustrator Helene Magisson, and a small village of both professional and non-professional help, June has created something very beautiful and meaningful.

We are so grateful that June was sympathetic with our instructions by getting her poems professionally edited and hiring a really high-quality professional illustrator and designer from the money she raised in her successful Kickstarter campaign. We are also grateful that this beautiful book exists because of its beauty, it’s diversity, and the environmental caring it subtly weaves through inspiration.

After the book came out, I was delighted to interview June for this blog in hopes that others will purchase it and learn from June’s innovative poem structures, the exquisite art, and about this magic place in far North Queensland where Magic Fish Dreaming takes place. Here’s the interview where June shares about her experiences of self-publishing and about her process in making the book.”

To VIEW the Video head to the wonderful Blog by Mira Reisberg

To find out more about our Instant Access Self-Publishing with Crowdfunding course click here. There’s currently a $60.00 discount with this Promo Code: ILOVEKidLit

How many Palms can you name?

| June

licualablog1
Licuala Fan Palm

When our family first moved to Far North Queensland I had only ever really thought about one kind of palm tree, the coconut palm, so often portrayed in movies of desert islands.

But I was soon to become familiar with the Licuala Fan Palm. This palm is an integral part of the environment that inspired much of the poetry of Magic Fish Dreaming.  It is distinctive and common in the Cassowary Coastal area.

There is a licuala Fan Palm walk between Tully and Mission Beach. On it you may come across the Ulysses Butterfly, Green Tree Frog, Scrub Turkeys or Wallabies and sometimes if you are lucky a Cassowary (we have done this.)

Mission Beach has over 50% of the remaining fan palm forests left in the world. These palms are incredibly resilient to cyclones.

How many variety of palm trees can you name?

To find out more about this amazing rain forest visit Queensland State Attractions