Live Encounters Poetry & Writing January 2025
The Making of “Robert Adamson: The Ultimate Commitment” by David Ades.
For once a month, in the several years before I returned to Australia in 2016, I met with a group of poets hosted by Michael Wurster at Coffee Tree Roasters in Shadyside, Pittsburgh, to discuss poetry. On any given month about ten poets would turn up for an in-depth several hours long reading and discussion of a poetry book selected by one member of the group on a rotating basis. When it was my turn to select a book, as the only Australian poet in the group, I inevitably chose a book by an Australian poet, all of whom were unknown to the rest of the group.
This was in part to introduce the other members of the group to fine Australian poets, and in part to broaden my own reading of such poets. One of my selections was The Goldfinches of Baghdad by the late, great Australian poet, Robert Adamson, a book that was obtainable in the U.S. through its American publisher, Flood Editions. Each member of the group bought the book, read it, and attended the meeting to read poems from it and discuss them. It was the first time I had read a collection by Adamson, and I came out of my reading of the book and the detailed shared perspectives of other readings of it, with a deep appreciation of Adamson’s poetry.
After I moved to Sydney, I heard Robert read his poetry on two occasions, once, at a Sappho’s bookshop reading where his reading was punctuated by background lightning and thunder, and a second time, at the inaugural ‘Reading the River’ poetry reading sponsored by Rochford Street Review near his beloved Hawkesbury River in January 2020. Although elderly by then, it was evident from those readings that as well as being a poet, Adamson was a storyteller, a raconteur who regaled his audience with anecdotes and recollections leavened by humour.
As the host of the Poets’ Corner reading and now podcast series, which has been running since February 2018, I very much wanted to have Robert Adamson as a guest. Un-fortunately, that didn’t happen before his death in late 2022.
I kept thinking after his death how I might be able to do something to commemorate Robert and his poetry. I came up with the idea of recording a series of mini podcasts with people who knew him. I approached Robert’s creative and life partner, the renowned photographer Juno Gemes, with the idea of doing a tribute podcast in Robert’s honour. She embraced it and collaborated with me in fully supporting the project, connecting me to poets, publishers and critics to approach and encouraging them to participate in what eventually became the documentary Robert Adamson: The Ultimate Commitment. Juno also provided her portraits of Robert Adamson for inclusion in the documentary.
Once Juno had agreed to the project, I ran the idea by Michael Campbell, the Executive Producer of WestWords. Michael and WestWords have supported the Poets’ Corner project from inception. WestWords had no funding for a series of tribute podcasts for Robert, but Michael agreed immediately:
“Robert Adamson: The Ultimate Commitment was a project that simply had to be done. Robert’s contribution to Australian literature simply required both documenting and celebrating. And for that to be done by his friends and fellow poets gives an intimate portrait of the man and the work. A labour of love, for the love of poetry. WestWords is so pleased to be able to contribute to, and create a legacy for others to enjoy now, and into the future.”
My original intention was to ask Robert’s poetry colleagues, including friends, publishers, and literary critics, to read one or two of Robert’s poems and/or talk about Robert and
his poetry by way of anecdotes, remembrances, stories or whatever came to mind! We recorded podcasts with Juno Gemes, with Robert’s U.S. and Australian publishers, Devin Johnston and Ivor Indyk, the critic Peter Craven, and poets Judith Beveridge, Judith Nangala Crispin, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Anthony Lawrence, Mark Mordue, Claire Potter, Mark Roberts, and Gig Ryan. All gave their time, consideration, and thoughtfulness to the project gratis. It is a testament to Robert’s standing and generosity to those whose paths he crossed, that such generosity was so willingly reciprocated by all concerned in the making of this film and I am grateful for everyone’s generous participation.
When we had recorded all the podcasts and had a number of hours of material, Ally Burnham, the creative producer at WestWords, suggested interweaving them all into a full length documentary, something that was beyond what I originally intended. It also resulted in something different and more: what emerged from the sketches and vignettes of Robert, interwoven to create a narrative arc, to gather together prominent themes, was both poet and man, complex, layered, troubled in his youth, grappling with demons, and ultimately finding through poetry, if not salvation, meaning, purpose, industry, a place in the world beyond the Hawkesbury River, and a lifetime commitment.
I acknowledge Juno Gemes and The Bowerbird Trust in fully supporting and collaborating
in the making of this documentary, I also acknowledge and thank Juno Gemes/ Juno Gemes archive for the publication of her portraits of Robert Adamson featured in the documentary. I express my gratitude to Michael Campbell and Ally Burnham at WestWords for their commitment to this project and for everything they did to bring it to fruition.