Melbourne Poets honour Michael Reynolds

Story by Benjamin Solah

The Brunswick Hotel was full last night for the last Passionate Tongues poetry night for the year and it was for a special reason. Melbourne poets Richard Smolarek and Amanda Anastasi used their open mic spot to surprise MC Michael Reynolds with a gift, a cheque of over $1,200 raised by donations from poets around Melbourne and beyond as well as a collection of haikus about the MC.

It was an exciting night and a long time coming. Michael is much loved by poets around Melbourne. He has done a lot for everyone, encouraging new poets to continue having a go on the open mic, and giving many of us our first features. He has run Passionate Tongues poetry for a long time, turning up each fortnight to MC the event, arranging feature poets, collecting prizes for the raffle. All of this whilst working shift-work. He has been very generous and wholly deserves the money people raised for him.

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Annie Solah

Annie Solah is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, activist and the Director of Melbourne Spoken Word. She grew up in Western Sydney before calling Melbourne home in 2008, where she's performed since 2010 around Melbourne's regular spoken word and poetry nights including Passionate Tongues, The Dan Poets, Voices in the Attic and House of Bricks as well as the NGV and White Night. She's released a chapbook, broken bodies, and two spoken word albums, Duel Power with Santo Cazzati and The World Doesn't Make Sense EP.