DEWARS USES BUKOWSKI POEM

DRINKSTER's love of the poetry of Charles Bukowski is no secret, but I never thought I'd see anything like this brilliant use of his work by  Dewar's White Label Whisky.  I know the poem's been abridged a little, but this single clip could  expose more people to great poetry than any other current device, no? Now all we have to do is recognise the work of someone who's still alive. Oh, and yes ... perhaps remember to give the poet a credit. And now, thinking ahead, maybe Colonel Sadness should turn this one into a fried chicken advertisement.

Tourism Australia, meanwhile, has shown how terribly wooden-tongued people can abuse the word, poetry, in its really bad pretence of high literacy: this thing called Be Changed.  As one comment at the foot of the Youtube post wisely says "Twice as good with the sound off," which is not what you want when you're competing with the likes of the Dewars/Bukowski thing, which is just as good with no pictures.   

While the followers of the prizewinning  media/marketing Mumbrella like Be Changed, their comments are a blistering indication of how stupid our advertising world really is in Australia. It sounds as if they've commissioned a writer to make a poem sound like them. 

This week the poets of Scotland, in their contribution to the UK National Poetry Day, have made a Youtube clip which blows that horrid Australian exercise clear down the bog. In their celebration of their great art and sensitivity, they have made a series of eight little movies which make me itch to go straight to Scotland. You won't be wanting to turn the sound off here! The theme for National Poetry Day was water.  Go slop about!