Clive Palmer is infamous for his bluster and combative style but the federal MP is about to put his warm, fuzzy side on public display.
Not many people would know Mr Palmer once penned a book of poetry that sold more than 10,000 copies and ranged over everything from romantic love to the injustices of South Africa's apartheid era.
That was more than 30 years ago. But his love for beautifully crafted prose has never left him, earning him a headline spot at the Queensland Poetry Festival in Brisbane this weekend.
The member for Fairfax will stage a public reading of some of his original works on Sunday and says it's a pleasure to be reviving works published more than three decades ago.
"I wrote a book ... it was published and that was the end of it, I thought, until I got the call (about) the poetry festival," he told ABC radio on Friday.
But he says at least one of his poems has required a slight tweak in today's atmosphere of political correctness.
He's had to doctor the last two lines of one, titled Take A Woman, in case lines meant to describe romantic devotion might be construed as a reference to stalking.
Mr Palmer said that at the time he wrote the book, he didn't think his poetry was good enough to feature at a festival.
"But I suppose, subsequent to my life, people have gathered interest in it. Poetry is something that tells us a different side of people, it opens up to see what they are thinking, and what their motivations are," he said.
"The message is what's important, not the person who's written it."
Take a Woman (original version)
By Clive Palmer.
Take a woman and hold her close
Never let her go
Tell her that you love her
Never let her go
Take a woman and give her
Everything you own
Love, peace and happiness
She will never be alone
And she will give you happiness
Give you peace and love
Give you something no one else can give
Called love
And in your peace you will smile
To know that she is there
And in her peace she will smile
To know that you care
Take a woman and give her children and a night
She'll be the torch and you the light
And they'll be the stars that shine together
And light the way to dreams of dreams of yesterday
Take a woman and hold her close
Never let her go
Even when they've left her
You'll never let her go
