My Story

I was born in Melbourne and have lived most of my life here. My love of poetry was  ignited by the lyrics of Bob Dylan and fueled by love, madness, lust, excessive coffee drinking, the ranting of street poets, the music of the delta and the encouragement of kindred spirits. I cut my teeth in performance during the 1980's as part of the "Street Poetry" scene in inner city Melbourne. We plied our trade all over town from inner city pubs and generous coffee shops to Fairlea Ladies Prision and St Paul's Cathedral.

The scene was both creative and eccentric, filled with struggling poets, failed musicians, gentle spirits and people looking for somewhere warm to sit. Tom the Poet (aka Poor Tom the Street Poet and, of late, Thom the  World Poet, based in Texas) was the unofficial leader of the  movement and, like many others, I benefited from his warm encouragement.   I would like to pay tribute to Community Radio 3CR's "People in Performance"  show and   the Lauren Williams' led "Big Bang" magazine for recording and publishing my early work.

New directions in life  led me away from performance poetry, though I continued to write and publish, as well pursue my love of blues music. Tom coaxed me back into perfomance though my involvement in the band "We are alive", which had a regular gig at the Art House in North Melbourne in 1992. Later on, I moved interstate and even across the ocean for a time. I still write, but my current material is quite different from many of the poems and prose pieces featured here. 

Geoff Brooks

February 2006