Seven worlds collude

Photograph by Reece Lyne

A lot of the time I feel like I don't really fit anywhere. Sometimes I feel like just about anywhere is home, as if I inhabit several worlds.

Sometimes I do stand-up comedy shows. Sometimes I do spoken word shows. I have competed and won competitions within both of these worlds, something which is unmatched in my live music world. Sometimes I teach songwriting and sometimes I host songwriters' circles. A lot of short people know me as Mr Townsend. Some tall people too. 

Last week I was privileged to open an art exhibition. Last month I shared the stage with some of the biggest names in Australian music. Last night I rocked up to a gig without a stage, a sound system, or anyone who seemed to know what was going on. So I left.

Tomorrow I will perform with my band at a festival celebrating diversity. My set is happily sandwiched between two drag shows, a chilled soloist and a smokin' band. 

The day after that I will sing my stories about Judas at a Baptist church heavily involved in social justice. I might even stay for the luncheon.

I don't generally feel at home at art exhibition openings. It's too hard to keep the cheese on them little crackers. As for poetry, I have found it prudent to make a habit of avoiding anyone who identifies as a poet - myself included. I don't get "original music" as a concept, and don't identify as sexually diverse or as a churchgoer.

But here I am. I am at home in all of these worlds, like a sparrow snatching crumbs from shopping centre tiles before singing my way through the automatic doors.

​And I never know what happens after that.