Poetry at the pinnacle- Menzies Creek’s Peter Naish has been named the 2009 Poet of the Danden

By Tania Martin
PETER Naish’s passion for the power of prose has spanned a lifetime.
The retired English literature lecturer and Menzies Creek man has just had his first poetry book published
He was named the Woorilla 2009 Poet of the Dandenongs last month.
Naish was thrilled to be named this year’s poet.
“I have always had a passion for poetry,” he said.
“I was a bit bewildered to be chosen but it was great working with Woorilla.”
As part of the prize, a book of Naish poetry has been published.
“Some of the poems go way back and some are more recent but they are all in different forms,” he said.
His book, Off Early is a compilation of a life-time of work.
Naish said his inspiration comes from every-day life.
“There are always lots of different triggers for me,” he said.
Naish hopes to put together another book one day but said it would take some time.
“Poetry is an occasional thing for me …I write when the urgency strikes,” he said.