A poem written by Mary O’Brien, a dew drift consultant and advocate for rural men’s mental health, has been released as a song.
A prominent rural mental health advocate and consultant for Dew Drift last week expanded her resume, and her work was used in a recently released country music song.
Mary O’Brien has made her mark in recent years as an advocate for rural men’s mental health after writing an article, which became the Are you stuck mate? charity.
Part of his work has been to use a poem he wrote after his father’s death called waiting for the boss – which was about his dog’s reaction to his death.
The poem has now been made into a country music song, featuring award-winning artists. angus gill, alan mackey Y Anna Kirkpatrick collaborating
I thought it was a gee up
“I was sitting in a shearing shed in Tasmania when I got a phone call from Alan Mackey to say they had turned my poem into a song and to see if I was okay,” said Ms O’Brien.
“I thought they were joking at first, I thought it was a gee up. It has completely blown me out of the water because I can’t sing a note.
“I’m so unmusical it’s not fun, I don’t think I can clap to the beat of the music, but they asked me if I wanted to listen to it and they emailed me the recording.
“I was very happy with it, they could have taken a poem, which was very close to my heart, and changed it completely, but they kept most of the words and summed it up well.”
Ms O’Brien said the song will be submitted to the Golden Guitar Awards in Tamworth.
Ms O’Brien said her father passed away more than 20 years ago and the poem came shortly after.
“I could hear the front gate of my parents’ house rattling the morning of Dad’s funeral, just as the sun was coming up before dawn,” he said.
“The dog was sitting on the doorstep, watching all the cars come and go, so I left her in the backyard, where our working dogs aren’t normally allowed, and she went upstairs and snuggled up next to the dad’s boots on the floor. platform.
“She knew something was wrong and every time someone left the house, she thought it was him.”
Mrs O’Brien said she has used waiting for the boss in their men’s mental health work.
“I didn’t say how the man died and I left a lot of that open and I’ve mostly used it to show how this affects entire communities,” he said.
“I use some other poems too, because I think jungle poetry is a great way to reach guys in the jungle.”
Wall to wall conference concerts
the Are you stuck mate? the charity began after two men committed suicide in his home town of Dalby, in South Queensland.
“It had a huge ripple effect in the community; these were well known guys and it was hard to see everyone deal with it.
“I was next and if there was anything I could do, when I was sitting down with one guy, to stop them from doing this and having this impact on everyone else.
“That’s when I did my research and started to improve my skills.”
He wrote an op-ed on his spray drift consulting website about how mental health is treated in the bush, using “bogged down” as an analogy for depression.
“I was doing these spray workshops and they were like ‘can you talk for 15 minutes at the end about being stuck?’
“Then ABC Landline did an episode about my work in 2020 and that blew up the charity; I’ve been very busy ever since.”
- You can read a copy of “waiting for the boss” here
