Poetry turns the everyday into something exquisite and strange

As we move into the last month of Autumn there are two big events on the Minds Shine Bright calendar and our first poet in focus for 2025 is Isi Unikowski, the winner of the Minds Shine Bright Seasons, Light and Shadow Writing Competition. The first big date is 31 May 2025 which is the closing date for the Minds Shine Bright Places writing competition. Writers worldwide have until midnight on 31st May to submit their entries about places. If you are working on a piece remember to leave time to complete the online form which asks for your interpretation of the theme and a short bio. All entries are blind judged for the major prizes and then there are subsequent rounds of judging to select the shortlist, judge the Young Writer’s Prize, the English as an Additional language prize and select the recipients of the Certificates and Gifts of Recognition. As the competition deadline draws nearer we are experiencing more visitors to the Minds Shine Bright website. We recently passed our 100,000 views milestone and we have had over forty six thousand unique visitors.

On Saturday 28^th June we will be launching Light and Shadow, Minds Shine Bright, Seasons 2 Book Launch  at a delightful literary lunch in St Kilda Melbourne filled with inspirational readings by Minds Shine Bright writers and poets adn there will be some special guests too. If you are a local or a June visitor, you can get your tickets to the Light and Shadow Launch here and you can order a copy of Light and Shadow with your ticket to collect at the Launch or buy one at the event.

There will be live  and online readings from Light and Shadow writers and poets like Isi Unikowski, Tim Loveday, Poppea White, Angela Costi, Alexandra O’Sullivan, Keren Heenan, Veronica Troup, Helen Booth, Paul Drewitt, Dr Chelinay Gates and more.

I recently met with Isi Unikowski for an inspirational chat about poetry and his writer’s journey. 

Poet in Focus – Isi Unikowski

From your POV what is the significance and relevance of poetry today?

Auden said that poetry makes nothing happen; but then we know that poets are often amongst the first people to get arrested by oppressive regimes. So there must be something about writing that makes autocrats and dictators worried about the impact that poets can have. Perhaps it’s the creative imagination which allows people to think more freely about things in general — this is threatening to regimes. When people are free to express themselves, this contributes to a healthier political environment as well. (I’m thinking of Adrienne Rich’s brilliant poem ‘What kind of times are these’ which ends ‘in times like these/to have you listen at all, it’s necessary/to talk about trees.’)

There is something about the craft of writing too that is a constant reminder that whatever we are being told is temporary. Poetry hooks into structures of the present and the past. Poetry is a creative tradition that steps outside of the temporary political and cultural structures of the day and reminds us of their impermanence. 

What is the essence of a good poem?

For me, it’s one where the poet has made a real effort to communicate with me. It doesn’t have to be a simple poem; it can be quite ‘difficult’ poetry but I still want to feel that they are sharing something with me. They want me to be part of the creative process. I’m not attracted to poetry that is too opaque and enigmatic for its own sake, I need to be able to find a way in.  Also, I love poetry that is grounded in a real place – whether that is a domestic setting or a geographical place, such as Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Postscript’ which is about a particular road.  It makes me feel the physicality of that location.

How did you become a poet? (Sharing your writer’s journey)

I’ve recently been cleaning up my mum’s filing cabinets and found stuff that I wrote in primary and at high school, so I guess I’ve always been writing poetry. I remember that they used to play records to familiarise us with the language of Shakespeare and I loved the sound of the language as well as its intellectual content.

Between high school and university my parents bought me a poetry anthology by the famous American anthologist Oscar Williams, so I know I was interested in poetry then, and I started writing in earnest. I even received a rejection slip from Les Murray (which I’ve still got) where he very kindly explained that my poetry was too wordy. Then my paid working life got in the way although I wrote when I could. After retirement I resumed a more intensive poetic craft. In 2020 I responded to an ad by Ross Gillett, a poet who lives in Daylesford, Victoria, offering his services for editing and critiquing.  He provided lots of edits and suggestions for my manuscript, and very kindly took upon himself to send it to David Musgrave at Puncher & Wattman books who agreed to publish my first book. 

I also enjoy participating in poetry readings as it’s a distinct experience from reading what you’ve written on the page to yourself. It brings out the sound of the words, the rhythm of the syntax, which can add quite a different meaning to the written text. 

What are some of the highlights of your writer’s journey? 

Getting two collections published; and having the second one reviewed recently in the Australian Poetry Review.

Being included by Jeanine Leane and Judith Beveridge in Best of Australian poems 2022.

As you have shaped your craft what are some of the key things that you have learned?

First, try to get people from outside your inner circle to look at your poetry: what you want is a critical friend who can tell you if something isn’t working, or could be clearer, or this or that can be improved.

If possible and affordable, attend workshops: those I have attended which were run by Felicity Plunkett and Jen Webb respectively gave me the chance to see my poetry through others’ eyes and ears and I learned a lot that way.

Third, read often and widely.  Get a sense of what’s happening in the world of poetry, and more importantly, what possibilities of expression lie beyond your poetic comfort zone.  

How often do you write? 

It can be difficult to find a solid block of time between my duties as a carer, but I still try to write something every day or even, in the brief spaces between jobs, just to do a little editing, which I enjoy for its own sake, seeing improvements emerging (I’m not a big fan of the ‘first draft/best draft’ school). I don’t have any set time or pattern. 

What inspired you to write ‘Bright square of Morning?’

A journey that my wife and I make on a regular basis up and down the Hume Freeway. I noticed this point on the highway just north of Melbourne, where I could see the side of what may have been a shed or a barn, some distance away from the highway, as it caught the light of the sun as it was rising. It would lift my spirits to see this wall shining as I left Melbourne. It’s about being in a particular place at a particular time, feeling alive and enjoying the drive— being lifted out of the humdrum. 

I’ve always been interested in poetry that touches on the transcendental. Gives us something beyond daily reality. Clarice Beckett’s paintings are a great visual representation of what I’m writing about and trying to achieve. 

How did you interpret the theme of light and shadow?

Light illuminates what we see on a daily basis, whereas shadow takes us beyond that, into what might broadly be termed ‘the transcendental’, where there is more to existence than what we see on our smart phones. That aspect of the theme resonated with me very well.