Having fun with poetry

Ray McAlary (Damjan Janevski) 215157_01

Goya Dmytryshchak

The search is on for people with a disability who love to write poetry, to take part in a competition aimed at adding “something extra to our lives” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Poets with a Disability competition is the idea of Altona Meadows’ Ray McAlary, who held a similar event while working with the former Cerebral Palsy League in Ipswich.

“I got involved working with a lot of the special schools, helping some of their students get ready for the employment field,” he said.

“I was actually doing radio poetry at the time and I found out a lot of these kids love writing poetry and there was some good stuff.”

So, he held a poetry contest.

Now, Mr McAlary is holding a competition to help get people through the second lockdown in Victoria.

“This competition is designed to add something extra to our lives when we are restricted in where we can go and what we can do,” he said.

“Having fun costs nothing.

“You don’t have to be a brilliant poet – this is a chance to express your feelings on any subject and share your ideas with other people.”

The competition is open to anyone with a disability, of any age and living anywhere.

The subject of poems is open and entries should include a name, phone or email contact, and age (if under 18) or age group (over 18, over 30, over 60).

Entries should be emailed by October 31 to macpoets@hotmail.com.