Elizabeth Skec is a poet who has lived in Sunshine for over 25 years. She talks poetry, Sunshine and her influences.

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 I'm walking to the Sunshine car park. I see two men squatting behind the car. I think nothing of it, smile and nod. Then one of them shushes me. I stop walking for a moment. The man who shushes me leaps up, pulls out a gun and starts yelling at these four young men on the other side, another man and a woman plain clothes and doing the same thing. One of the four starts to run. There's a bit of a chase for him. He is pinned to the ground and cuffed; the other three are being arrested on car bonnets. Two the men, plain clothes police put on green gloves to frisk them or something. I get out of there fast. Run my errands, a bit of a kickstart in my heart. I forget things on the way back. I walked through the same car park, nervous about seeing those police, not the criminals. They didn't seem that scary to me. 

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Skec. I'm actually known in the poetry scene as Lish and I started writing poetry when I was about 12 years old and I was reading some books and things. I came across some poems and thought, Ooh, this is a really fun way to tell stories with a small amount of words. And my mother was also an avid reader and was obsessed with the Lady of Shalott and the Highway Man. And she would recite those poems all the time as well as many other pieces actually. So I grew up with literature and I grew up with a lot of different kinds of poetry. 

I was at the city one day and I was walking past the Perseverance Hotel and would have been 16 years old and I needed to use the facilities. So I went in there and there was a man on stage and he was counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and talking about a box that he put in the ocean and all the audiences saying, wow. And I realized, this is a poem. So I sat myself down and I stayed as I ended up watching this entire reading. And there was Kerry Scuffins and Eric Beach and Kerry Loughrey and lots of Australian poets, some that are still here, some that have passed away and it was amazing. And I thought, Oh, these are my people. So I discovered that there was more to poetry than I thought and that people were out doing it, which was brilliant. So I just kept writing. And then I sort of finished school and went off forest blockading and doing a lot of other crazy things, but still writing poetry all the time.

And then when I came back, I think I was 19 years old. I went to the Dan O'Connell Hotel and Ellen Word Warrior was the MC there. I had actually arrived for the poetry club and I didn't know what that was. And again, I saw these amazing poets competing for this trophy. And I read for the first time and I haven't looked back since the first time I went, I actually read a poem called the cow that gave flavoured milk. It was a children's pome and everybody loved it. And then I sang a song called the Eagle because I also grew up with music and I still play music. I've actually run a few different readings as well as, as well as a couple of slams. Um, at the moment I run a fortnightly gig in Footscray at Pride of our Footscray community bar. And it's called poetryspective that has been going now for almost three years. And we have an annual slam each year called the retro slam. And basically that is set up for people to come and compete, reciting workings of a poet that inspires them. So it's a little bit more challenging in that way, because reading your poetry is one thing, but giving an interpretation of somebody else's work in that kind of environment, it's a little bit more of a test, but it's also a lot of fun and it, it takes away; I think…I believe… it takes away that ego aspect because you're performing somebody else and with our gig, um, I set this up for everyone. So it doesn't matter where you come from and what your beliefs are. Um, what your sexuality is….Um, any of that, I believe that everybody has a story. Everybody has a voice and everybody's welcome to come and read, which is why we stress that it is a world of work.

I actually met my now husband at the Dan O’Connell [pub]poetry gig. He was stalking around reading and he was walking across the tables and he delivered this great poem. And I said, wow, when over and drank his drink. After we got married and had twins, we moved back to the Western suburbs and haven't left. Because this is such a colourful area. And sometimes I just like to go to the different plazas and sit there and observe people and see what they're doing and write little things. Um, and I think also having relatives around here and having Paul talking about this area and where he grew up and all of that sort of stuff has influenced some of my poetry because where he grew up in West Sunshine was swamp lands and they built on the swamplands. So I've learned quite a lot about the history around here, as well. And I really liked the people in the community. So yeah, it has influenced, it's definitely influenced my writing. 

My poetry is predominantly written from life experience. Although I do get fanciful now and then. It is often driven by emotion. I like to make people cry, laugh, feel things. My poetry can have a raw edge. I like to tell the everyday stories, as well as the great ones. Sometimes with just one line, strength is controlling your own walking stick. I write every day, even if it's just a line or two or a couple of words, it's just something that I can't help. I've always loved telling stories. Sometimes poems spring from novels or other poems. Now and then a poem appears by the Creek or during a conversation. Other poems draft themselves from memories and music, bad television that lets your mind wander magazines, pop cultures, looking out a window, could spark a poem in me, internal reflections, going out, observing and experiencing the everyday. All these sorts of things trigger my poems. 

Poetry connects us in ways that other arts don’t always, and you learn things about cultures and other countries and other experiences and lives in an, in a new way when you read poetry. Especially world poetry. I love poetry. So, my favourite book for a long time was called Voices from across the water. That had everything from Persian poetry, European poetry, African, just yeah, magnificent stuff. So, and I think the more you read of it, the better you become as well, you’ll rework things. And you read, read, read as much poetry as you can, and that helps you hone your craft and improve.