Springwood poet Gerry Mannion has continued his winning streak with spate of prizes at the Ekka.
The rising star only began performing three years ago, but quickly dominated several poetry competitions, including the Boobdooma Homestead Bush Poetry Competition, the Banjo Patterson Festival, the Kennilworth ArtsFest, the Ipswich Show and the Logan Muddy River Competition.
At this year’s Royal Queensland Show, Mr Mannion competed across three categories: Established Poem, placing second; Original Poem, placing second again; and a special Caravanning themed category, in which he placed first.
For his remarkable feat, Mr Mannion was also awarded the competition’s Overall Champion.
Here is his first-prize winning poem, titled The Wizz Bang Campervan:
My wife and I used to get away camping in our tent
But sometimes it would rain a bit and cause some malcontent
We’d see all the big flash caravans their occupants clean and dry
As we huddled under a leaky tarp and the rain fell from the Sky
Admiring all the van’s setup in the parks or beach or Bush
The talk would be of caravans as we’d head home in a rush
As we’d spend our time unpacking, drying out our clothes and tent
We’d swear we’d have a caravan the next time that we went
So to get ourselves a caravan well that was our intention
And we researched all the options too numerous to mention
Do we need one with a tandem axle? to go off the beaten track
Or with ensuite, shower and air con to explore the Great Outback?
But the thing we came to realise, these rigs were big and heavy
And to tow them we would probably need a Dodge Ram or a Chevy
So we looked around at pop tops and little folding A -VANs
And quirky little beds on wheels, those teardrop Caravans
And because we both are working still and have yet to retire
We thought maybe a campervan, was what we should acquire
So we settled on a Wizz bang van a brand new Transit Custom Sport
But not just for our weekend fun, also my day to day transport
When I picked it up and took it home my heart was filled with Pride
I drove it straight into our Garage to show the wife inside,
I opened up the drivers door and the sliding ones as well
So we both could revel in its beauty and absorb that new car smell,
Leather seats, reversing camera and with lane guidance too
(Yeah just what I needed someone else to tell me what to do)
I jumped into the drivers seat to reverse out my brand new ride
Checked the camera and the mirrors as I moved it back outside
But then as I reversed it back there was a mighty splat
I hit the brakes and thought to myself what the hell was that
I wondered what the crash was that made my blood run cold
As I thought that I had wrecked my van and it just a few hours old
I checked the rearview camera and the mirrors left and right
To see if I could ascertain what had given me such a fright
And then I saw the reason that had filled my soul with dread
The garage door release rope was around the same height as my head
And when I closed the offside door there was something I had not seen
It had caught that garage door release and jammed the rope between
So as soon as I started moving back it was then disaster struck
As the garage door came crashing down and landed on my truck
Well I lifted up the garage door so I could assess the carnage
But despite the clatter and the noise there was no major damage
Then I set about the task of fitting out my brand new car
And I thought the damage that was done was just a battle scar
It was just a basic panel van, not a camper to be precise
But I had a plan to fit it out so it would look real nice
So to all you caravanners out there I hope its not a damper
As coming soon to a site near you is yet another Wizz bang camper
