The Wannabe Bush Poet

The Wannabe Bush Poet is the pen name of an early Country Campfire contributor who shared original bush poetry under that name.

While little is publicly known about the writer, their poems reflect the heart of what Country Campfire is working to preserve: everyday Australian verse, humour, memory, larrikin storytelling, and the kind of writing that might otherwise sit quietly in old messages, emails, folders or forgotten website posts.

The Wannabe Bush Poet’s work is now being preserved through Keeping The Verse Alive, Country Campfire’s bush poetry preservation project.

Not every poet stands on a stage. Not every writer wants their full name attached to their work. Some simply write, share a poem, and leave behind something worth keeping.

These poems are part of that story.

---

Part Of Keeping The Verse Alive

Keeping The Verse Alive is a Country Campfire Bush Poetry Preservation Project created to help preserve and share Australian bush poetry in written and recited form.

The project exists to give bush poetry a permanent home online — from established poets to everyday Australians with poems sitting quietly in notebooks, emails, desk drawers, old files and forgotten corners of the internet.

The Wannabe Bush Poet is an important early example of why this project matters.

The poems were shared without fuss, under a pen name, and with the simple spirit of Australian bush poetry: tell the yarn, have a laugh, remember the moment, and keep the verse moving.

Learn more about Keeping The Verse Alive.

---

The Wannabe Bush Poet on Country Campfire

The following poems by The Wannabe Bush Poet have been preserved or republished by Country Campfire.

Written Poems

Recitals

Flood Party ’21 was recited by Country Campfire in 2021 and helped spark the idea for what later became the Country Campfire Bush Poetry Podcast.

Friday’s Pants on Monday was also recorded by Country Campfire and is now preserved alongside the written poem.

Bitcoin Mad was also recorded by Country Campfire and is now preserved alongside the written poem.

About The Poems

The Wannabe Bush Poet’s poems cover a mix of Australian humour, personal reflection, modern life, and larrikin storytelling.

Flood Party ’21 is a flood poem set around Abergowrie and the Herbert River near Ingham, capturing the strange mix of isolation, danger, humour and local character that can come when floodwater cuts a community off from town.

Friday’s Pants on Monday is a light-hearted poem about youth, travel, family life, and finding a little Friday magic on a Monday.

Bitcoin Mad is a humorous modern bush poem about Bitcoin, banks, money printing, crypto regret and the very Australian art of wondering whether you should have bought earlier.

Taken together, these pieces show that bush poetry does not only belong to the past. It can still speak to floods, families, work, money, travel, humour and everyday life.

---

Rights And Permission

These poems were originally shared with Country Campfire by a contributor using the name The Wannabe Bush Poet.

Country Campfire is preserving and republishing them in good faith as part of Keeping The Verse Alive, a bush poetry preservation project created to help keep Australian bush poetry, yarns and country stories alive.

If you are the original writer and would like anything updated, credited differently or removed, please contact Country Campfire.

Poems, recitals, photographs, stories and original works remain the property of their original creator and are shared by Country Campfire with permission.