Big thanks for my birthday greetings

Many thanks to those who recently sent me birthday greetings by one means or another. Special thanks to those who were able to come to our Poetical Party on the Saturday, especially those who travelled some distance to do so. They included Sabina, Bruce and Helen, Julienne and David, Sue, Susan and Philip, and Andrew and Tess.

The entry criterion determined by Pella for the Party was 'to write and deliver something poetical'. A number of people who were unable to attend in person sent a piece anyway, and we received fifty or sixty in all. They varied from haikus to extensive ballads; and from reflections on eighty years, to brief descriptions of single moments. At the party some of the offerings were posted on the wall of the community centre in which we gathered, for all to see.

They made an interesting collection. The poem from Julie, my 'Sister-in-Law' in the UK, made me laugh out loud. It included a reminder of how we totally lost our car in a Melbourne shopping precinct; and of a Sunday morning with the mass said in Vietnamese.

Some people wrote not one but two pieces - occasionally with assistance from Artificial Intelligence. As someone who knows nothing about AI and has never used it, I might be quite mistaken. But I wonder if employing it might have the useful discipline of requiring a person to identify their own preferences in poetry, in order to provide the AI system with instructions which will result in a product of their preferred kind.

Applying this discipline to my own collection, I think the important characteristics are:

· the piece will have a plain narrative - a story told from beginning to end; 'more history than mystery';

· a fixed rhyming scheme (per piece, however fabricated!);

· the inclusion of word play (puns, jokes) as the chance arises; and, most crucial,

· a strong and continuous rhythm or meter.

These quite subjective preferences provide me with a framework for the insidious task of specifically mentioning some of my favourites in the set of pieces received for the birthday party. Insidious or not, let me proceed.

David, my oldest brother, used his unique relationship with me to tell the whole story of my life to date, with the inclusion of a number of references to its key turning points. On my birth: "Unknown to us, your arrival planned"; and of once falling out of the car:

"Door part-way open and no seat-belt:

By exiting the car in motion

Beginning to make one's presence felt -

Which must have caused quite a commotion."

The pieces from Tony and Chris, radically different in length and form, tell of my best two lifetime friendships. My cricketing and hockey adventures are mentioned by several, with no exaggeration of their importance and value to me, and only some exaggeration of their success. Winning is not everything.

Irene told - as only Irene could - of the foundational role of The Trip to Jerusalem in the second and third thirds of my life in which Alpha was the focus. The irony of that should not be lost on Irene: The Trip has no normal foundation; it's built into a solid limestone rock.

Many submissions received knew me as a colleague at work. Frank's piece is perhaps the rawest - the most direct and natural statement of a relationship that's fully rounded and consistently respectful. Many other close workmates were not present at the party. The pieces by Leanne, Susan, Catherine, Sue, Lesley, John, Helen, Viv and two Bruces tell the story best. Accurate historical records came from Tony, Jenny and The Princess. Julienne and David, as well as John, took the opportunity to promote the fact that economies are more than numbers and that health is the truest kind of wealth.

My best friend included some cricket, in the time-honoured fashion of W.E. Henley:

"But more than runs or wickets won

You taught us how the game is done.

With sportsmanship and quiet pride

You always had your team beside."

Hockey was beautifully dealt with by Keith, without whom that element would have been so much less. The most intriguing and imaginative poem received was Craig's. (How good to discover that some friends have similar poetical pretensions.)

Canadian relatives and friends kept their end up, with Crisanda apparently leading the creative team for the Knoxes, with a piece entitled Australian Rhapsody. (There was no need for creativity on the part of another branch of the Canadian family to let on that I am never seen in the kitchen at home.) Shirley and Greg were impressively detailed and comprehensive - but late! (Their inclusion of 'scrunching' reminds one of the closeness and care exercised in our relationship.)

Quite the cleverest piece overall, and AI-assisted, was from Ken, with several verbal jests. For instance, the interface between music and politics results in corruption of the dance to become The Waves of Tory. Fiona's had the tastiest references to cheeses - picking up the matter raised in Pella's global invitation.

Lyn B made the craftiest use of pre-existing greeting card material. Special mention has to go to Sara for three suggestions for a rhyme for 'Gordon Gregory': 'Cordon Plenary', 'Maudlin Reverie' and 'Warden Chancery'. Lovely! And Elisabeth, another Sophisticated Swinger, was so kind and understanding in what she said to me on the day.

The best puns were from Kapil and Ken. And Peter is to be congratulated for finding a rhyme for heteroskedasticity¹. Benedict's - with AI - was a surprise treat. And Anne: I imagine yours got lost in the post?

Three excellent pieces received were unattributed. The first is neat, pleasing and delightful. The second is an expanded version of That's Life, the song usually associated with Frank Sinatra. Some of the augmentation of the words seems designed to lead to an increased emphasis on light, which makes it particularly poignant for me.

The third is entitled See What Tomorrow Brings and is signed off by Zimon Dadali, a name unknown to me and Google search. It is a well-written put-down of how charlatans try to be popular enough to be elected to parliament. Can you help??

Let me return to where I started. Thank you to those who took the trouble, sometimes large, often small, to stay in touch through Facebook, text, email and old-fashioned mail. Sitting out the back in my cold shack it is gratifying and, I think, vital to feel part of an ongoing community. Judging from my transactions on today's trip to a post office, that last-named means of communication is not for long. Two very small, very light parcels, one to Canada, the other to New Zealand, cost $34.

Big thanks to my family for organising everything.

^1. In regression analysis heteroskedasticity refers to the scatter of the data points around the regression line; it varies as you move along the regression line. This can affect the validity of statistical inferences and predictions derived from the regression model. BTW: Peter went with 'accuracy'.