Perth poet Scott-Patrick Mitchell, winner of the Creatix Poetry Award, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support a new experimental performance at Newcastle’s Crack Theatre Festival.

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Mitchell, who had submitted his poem to Creatix for publishing, did not realise he was entering his work for a prestigious award – and was surprised to discover he had won first place.

“I submitted my poem just thinking I really need to get some work published,” he said, “When they contacted me to tell me I had won First Place for the journal’s poetry award, The Creatix Poetry Award, I was just blown away. I didn’t even realise they had a poetry award.”

Mitchell’s next project will be an experimental endurance piece, dubbed ‘The 24 Hour Performance Poem’. Mitchell hopes to perform a marathon day-long poem at Crack Theatre Festival and is seeking community help to support his journey to the east coast.

“The problem is, I still need people to help out and throw in a few dollars so I can raise the flight money to make it to Newcastle,” Mitchell says.

Scott-Patrick Mitchell aims to perform for an entire 24 hour block, tipping his previous record of an unbroken 7.5 hour performance.

“The show, which is streamed live online, is something I can: I have a mixture of scripted and spontaneous work plus projected poetry and a dash of pre-recorded text, which I’ll use to rest my voice at key points throughout the work.”

Donors to Mitchell’s GoFundMe campaign will receive personalised rewards, including poetry penned just for you. Scott-Patrick is also offering one-on-one master classes for anyone interested in honing their performance skills with a professional.

You can donate to Scott-Patrick’s 24 Hour Performance Poem fund at gofundme.com

Here is Scott-Patrick Mitchell’s Creatix Poetry Award winning poem, Makeup on Midland Line

makeup on midland line

she is a matisse, monet

in the way she dabs her

face to make up a mask

representing how she

feels

. train wheels squeal in

to motion & lotion is

applied to hide ravages

time enshrines: age in

lines

. she smooths grooves

to deflect & invoke an

illusion of youth, even

though she is young her

-self

. skull as parchment she

writes a poem upon her

face, stroking into place

phrasing so eloquently

traced

. an iPhone mirrors back

what her brushes attack

, lacquer a factor in her

arrangement of attractor

: self-portraiture

is a craft that arcs her

eyelashes as her eyes

spark, admiring the art

of self construction she

imparts