Group brews up keen wordsmiths

WHEN Pizzabox Poets co-founder Dave Munro took to the stage to perform at an open mic session at Palling Bros Brewery at Heathcote in 2018 it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

“It was just a bit of a whim at the pub that night and because I’d been doing spoken word open mics in Melbourne, I had overlooked that everyone else would just be singing,” he said.

“I forget which poem I chose but it was pretty sweary, I think because it was in a pub it was fine.”

After the impromptu reading was over, Palling Bros’ owner Peter Pichut said the response was spectacular.

“He came up and performed, the place was packed with the footy club and these young guys from the footy club they all clapped,” he said.

“It was like a revelation, he’s not a rockstar he’s a rockstar poet, it just captivated people.”

But was the conversation afterwards that sowed the seeds for something bigger.

“Peter said it was great, he loved a bit of poetry and we should do some more of it,” Mr Munro said.

Mr Munro and his wife Amanda Collins had moved to Heathcote a few months earlier.

“We’d been saying it’s a great little town, but we really needed a poetry outlet rather than having to go to Melbourne for spoken word,” Ms Collins said.

A couple of weeks later a group of local poets gathered at Palling Bros and Pizzabox Poets was born.

“I had a pizza box just to write the names on, which was Amanda’s idea, so it ended up being called Pizzabox Poets,” Mr Pichut said.

Trevor Moore was one of the poets who took to the stage on that first night.

“We rocked up and Peter asked if I was here for the poetry and the next thing, without asking me, he wandered up to the box and wrote my name,” he said.

“I was there to watch, not actually do any, because I’d never read out loud.

“I’d written thousands of poems, but I posted them online so I never had to get up and read them myself, I was terrified.”

Mr Munro said creating a welcoming environment had been very important.

“A really nice part of Pizzabox is that we do get this regular stream of people who haven’t done an open mic before, some of them have even barely done poetry before,” he said.

“They stand up and give it a go, and that is really a central part of the vision we have for the group.”

Mr Moore has been going ever since that first session and he said the atmosphere was really important.

“If we weren’t the welcoming group that we are, I would have faded away years ago.”

Not even the pandemic stopped the words with the group meeting online every month during COVID.

“But it was really nice to be able to come back together in person.” Ms Collins said. “Dave and I have also done a couple of poetry workshops at Heathcote library and every time we’ve done them new people have come along.

“It’s not our mission to make Pizzabox huge but it’s great when people discover that they’ve got this talent.

“The depth of what people are writing now, and the quality of what people are writing now, has just lifted from year to year.”

Pizzabox Poets event now attracts between 12 and 20 poets who perform their original work on the stage at Palling Bros Brewery on the third Sunday of every month, new poets are always welcome.