Poem Zone

Appears in 19 episodes, first in episode 115.

Every appearance

• Episode 446 - Show us your weed

  Not run this episode - referenced retrospectively while introducing the poetry-themed Dazza's. Tony: "it's almost like the old days of Scotty and Mel and their... Poet's Corner." Melissa: "The Poem Zone." Tony: "That was what it was called." Recorded here because it is direct in-episode evidence that this named bit is long retired and is associated by the current hosts with the Scott Trickett / Melissa Erbacher era.

• Episode 330 - palm23

  Post-outro bonus track: the recording of the UWA parkrun run-brief poem delivered at the start line that morning, welcoming the adventurers, describing the course (Winthrop Hall, the koi pond, the peacocks at the New Fortune Theatre, two laps, Glossop Green start and finish) and thanking the volunteers and core team.

• Episode 298 - Not Flat

  Set up and delivered after the outro. Tracey Wood's submission, inspired by Paddy Oshimo's entry the previous week, is a parkrun rewrite of Billy Joel's "Piano Man" ("It's seven o'clock on a Saturday and the regulars all stumble in"), Ollie sings it unaccompanied, having warned listeners they may want to tune out when the credits roll. Bruce Purdy's suggestion earlier in the episode that listeners send in a poem and nominate both the reader and the style appears to be turning the bit into a recurring request format.

• Episode 297 - The one when Mel sings

  Announced as returning with the segment jingle - Ollie: "The Poem Zone. That's right. It's back... You and Scotty foreshadowed it." Contribution from listener Patrick Shymitzek, who asked for "Mel's dulcet voice" to read it. The hosts hold it back to the very end of the episode; the jingle plays again and Mel SINGS the poem - a parkrun-tourism parody of "I Still Call Australia Home" ending "I still call Shellharbour home". This is what the episode title refers to.

• Episode 294 - the new U

  Not run this week - reminisced about. Scott recounts a parkrunner at Castlemaine recognising him from the podcast days and remembering the Poem Zone: "he remembered the poem zone"... "Chris said he sent in an entry and it just warmed my heart to know that a little part of the Poem Zone is still living on in the parkrun universe."

• Episode 235 - Hi-Vis Heroes

  Ollie reads a long verse sent in by listener Stephen Warwick teasing a new parkrun launch ("parkrun adventurers, a rumour, it was spreading all up and down the coast..."), ending with a dig at Shellharbour. At Mel says "it's almost reminiscent of The Poem Zone. There's one from The Vault", and the pair reminisce about the segment's old introductory sound effect in the past tense.

• Episode 214 - Festive Frivolity

  Mel reads out a listener's Christmas parkrun poem, written by Jennifer alongside a photo of two Lego men in ugly Christmas sweaters, four stanzas on matching shirts, mud and puddles, gratitude to volunteers, and earning the Christmas feast. Ollie responds "It's almost like a throwback to the poem zone."

• Episode 145 - Singleton parkrun

  Scott tries to revive the segment for an entry sent in over Christmas by Eden at Roosevelt Island, and accuses Mel of having banned it ("Mel's banned it" / "I have not banned it"). The poem is bumped for time, "this has been a long outro in the end, so we're going to bump it. Who knows? The Poem Zone may still come back... Maybe." The entry is acknowledged on air but never read.

• Episode 125 - August Madness

  Referenced only, not performed, Mel announces its end-: "We no longer have the Poem Zone. The Poem Zone wrapped up last week." It is explicitly replaced in the running order by the new parkrun adventurers hotline. Its legacy persists later in the episode when Scott introduces hotline caller Caroline as "our Poem Zone Hall of Famer".

• Episode 124 - parkrun and not single

  The final instalment of the Poem Zone, complete with its own jingle for the last time. The poem is by regular contributor Caroline Southwell, a piece about being spoilt for choice with 300-plus Australian parkruns and knowing why you do what you do, read alternately by Scott and Mel.

• Episode 123 - Penny Redhead

  Segment sting then Scott and Mel alternate lines of a long non-rhyming poem about Shellharbour parkrun and the parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup, sent in by listener Caroline (one of several she has submitted, being spread over several weeks). Mel's scroll fails mid-poem so she reads only the final line.

• Episode 122 - Kelly Hodges

  After a squabble over whose turn it is to read, Mel reads a haiku from listener Chris Timewell, sent under the email subject "In Defence of the Humble Haiku": "Let's all go clubbing / Statesman, Alphabets, Compass / parkrun piracy", a poem about the unofficial parkrun clubs. The hosts renew the call for entries by email, Facebook Messenger or the hashtag #poemzone, which Mel admits she has not been checking.

• Episode 121 - Mark Musk

  Scott reads this week's listener poem cold, without a rehearsal read-through, and fumbles the last rhyme. The poem is by "our good buddy Caroline Southwell... one of our favourite Poem Zone contributors". He also apologises that last week's Poem Zone went out without its intro music.

• Episode 120 - UK Conference

  Listener-submitted parkrun poems read on air by Mel. This week's is from Chris Fraser: "parkrun on Saturday is the place to be. There's definitely not a sleep in for me. Whether I run or stroll, it's worthy of a sausage roll. parkrun Saturday, happy as can be." Mel wanted to run two poems; Scott insists on one a week to stretch the supply out.

• Episode 119 - Highlight Reel

  Listener-submitted poem segment. Mel reads a limerick about Scotty written by Simon Mackley of New South Wales: "There once was a man from Westerfolds, a 21:05 PB he holds..." Scott objects that "the year and the year don't rhyme" and that the last line is factually incorrect, then declares it his favourite poem so far. He notes that the segment now has new theme music and is being cut back to one poem a week "because we don't want the segment to have a slow death".

• Episode 118 - Matty Trent

  Listener-submitted parkrun poetry. Scott had asked the previous week for something other than haikus, and the show's "number one fan" (a listener called Melissa, credited on air only as "a hashtag Melissa") sent two: a roses-are-red variant ("a 50 shirt is red, 500 is blue, the fun in between is all up to you") and a limerick about a girl from Kawana who sleeps through her alarm. Hosts ask for more submissions by email or Facebook, or hashtagged #PoemZone.

• Episode 117 - Roger Hanney

  Listener poetry segment. Mel appeals for more contributions ("we would like to see your haikus") and Scott reads one of three haikus submitted by listener Caroline Southwell, "Huge end to the week, I say. Two plus two plus three. We came, we saw and we ran.", written about her seven parkruns and freedom runs on the Sydney Longest Run. The remaining two are held over. Scott then proposes broadening the segment from haiku only to poetry generally.

• Episode 116 - Hannah Oldroyd

  Listener parkrun haiku segment, named by Scott the previous week. Mel explains the 5-7-5 haiku form; Scott reads the first entry, from Chris Timewell, inspired to write his first poem in 20-plus years: "Three laps with a lake / Friends, frost and tunnel of love / Castlemaine parkrun", which leads into an explanation of Castlemaine's tunnel of love for milestone runners. More entries held over for coming weeks.

• Episode 115 - Matt who?

  Coined live in the outro: after asking for feedback "iTunes reviews or poems", Mel proposes a parkrun haiku competition with a prize, and Scott names it after a song lyric, "last night I wrote a poem, I guess I was in the poem zone. So can we call the new segment The Poem Zone?" Mel commits to reading out roughly one poem a week in the outro. Almost certainly the "exciting new challenge to all adventurers" promised in the show notes.