“BECAUSE dumb old Mr Parkinson’s is with me as I stride.
And this vision of my retirement isn’t quite what I had in mind.”
Albury poet Lisa Ride writes about what she knows, but probably wishes the final poem in her newly-released book was complete fiction.
For it tells, with humour not self-pity, her story of living with Parkinson’s disease.
But Ride’s collection in A Little Spot of Poetry, published through Xlibris, deals with many other topics from her life as well.
Originally from Canberra, Ride has been an army reservist, an Australian Federal Police officer, community offender services case manager, media liaison manager, security officer and civil marriage celebrant.
“People often say to me, ‘Gee, you’ve done a lot’, but I can’t imagine NOT doing,” Ride said.
A collector, she also showed dalmatians for 20 years, with a favourite pet from her past the inspiration for her book’s illustrations.
“I wanted Dottie to help me tell my story,” she said.
Ride, now 54, came to Albury in 1998 and her book abounds with references familiar to Border readers.
The titles include Bunnings Albury, Driving to Corryong and Cougars at the Kinross while It’s Only Disqualified Driving mentions a few well-known locals.
“… Like Paddy's or the Bended or even at The Star ...”
Ride, who describes her style as Banjo Paterson meets English entertainer Pam Ayres, said her mother, herself a poet though unpublished, had always encouraged her writing.
She also appreciated the support gained when her poem Remember the Australian Soldier appeared on The Border Mail’s front page for Remembrance Day last year.
“It made me realise that my poetry is capable of affecting others, of providing either entertainment and/or a message,” she said.
“(Ideas) might go around in my head for years and years and years and all of a sudden it will go bang on the page. Sometimes it’s almost like when I put it on the page, I think ‘Wow, where did that come from?’.”
Ride said she found joy in performing poetry, but this had become more difficult.
“The book was another reason for me to do that, to put it down on paper so that other people can enjoy it without me performing it,” she said.
A Little Spot of Poetry is available at Dymocks Albury or at lisaride.com.
