Confessions of a Minor Poet

by Phil Brown

‘What a life. What a book. When it’s not making your ribs rattle with laughter, it’s making your heart ache with all the pathos and poetry. A memory box of jewels from a true Brisbane treasure.’ – Trent Dalton
Hilarious, heartfelt and revealing.
Phil Brown tells all (well almost all) in this rollicking account of his career in literature and journalism from The Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton to Melbourne’s Sunday Age and back to The Courier-Mail in Brisbane. He shares his challenges as a young surfer foolishly yearning to be a poet and his personal struggles on the road to becoming a writer with a fluctuating passion for poetry and a top drawer full of rejection slips. There are the seminal friendships with poets Bruce Dawe and Les Murray and a cavalcade of characters from the world of arts and letters – Barry Humphries, Willem Dafoe, Daniel Craig, Alain de Botton, Richard E. Grant and a cavalcade of characters he meets (and interviews) along the way, for better and occasionally, worse.
Confessions of a Minor Poet is a hugely entertaining memoir that shows us all how the life of a writer can be frustrating, even enraging but ultimately life-enriching. This is a vital, wild and affectionate ride across Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, from the seventies to now.

275 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2025

Reviews

[Jan Mawdesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an absolute pleasure to sink into the funny, irreverent, bitter sweet Confessions of a Minor Poet from Phil Brown, a man who has truly lived his life, followed his dreams and in spite of his better efforts at times, lived to tell the tale of what it takes to become a minor poet, or any sort of poet, published or unpublished.
Spending his younger years in the halcyon days of Hong Kong he did not transplant well to the coastal life of Queensland in the 1970’s. He pushed back at school and started surfing, spending much of his time at the beach chasing the next wave.
He felt he had an affinity with several of the great writers such as Hemmingway as well as a burning desire to record life through the challenging art of poetry, an ambition that saw him scribbling down thoughts, scratching away at the words that often would form into their own configuration.
As he progressed through University, until he did not, he lived the dream of a starving writer in an attic which eventually saw poetry created but also time spent in hospital recovering from the excesses of such a lifestyle.
As he matures so too does his verse carefully inserted throughout the book which is an absolute treat. His simple verse penned as a teen, grows into words that are full of depth and meaning as he seeks enlightenment, agonises over the many rejections slips, finally gets published and learns to find balance in a world of words.
Confessions of a Minor Poet is in so many ways a trip down memory lane for those who grew into adulthood in the 1970’s. It is also a window into what it takes to truly follow your dream, refuse to give in or give up and eventually to achieve his heart’s desire, that of a published poet.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clearly written, well paced entertaining read.
Although I was amazed when Phil Brown’s journalist wife complained that with working at TV Week she was involved in too much that was superficial. Do I have to say more.
Personally I was less interested in the chapter on the trip to Russia.
As far as the poetry is concerned I not an expert but it does appear to be "minor". Maybe his connections with Bruce Dawe helped.
Recommended as an entertaining light read, especially if you’re ill as I am at the moment.