Landscape From Far, Far Away
Butterflies
Hairy Panic
A couple of years ago I thought to publish here the lyrics to a song I wrote around a decade ago about a weed
It's called Hairy Panic.
This week I got around to recording the song:
It's called Hairy Panic.
This week I got around to recording the song:
Flame tattoo
The design has been with me for even longer.
My Facebook friend Sally had posted a little while ago that she was looking for opportunities to work on skin, so I started thinking about what I might want to wear.
Then, while camping recently and looking at the flames, I remembered the design and pondered the significance of fire.
Dreams are weird
I've written this here before but I'll write it again: dreams are weird
This morning I awoke thinking about a retreat. It was led by Laura, who has led previous retreats I've been on but we were in a high school science class.
Laura and I talked about a scary feeling we were getting from the darkened corner of the science lab. She suggested that a woman at the retreat might use her spectrometer to investigate.
This woman drew an old SLR camera from her bag and took a photo. As the flash lit the dark area it revealed a bear skeleton lumbering towards us.
When I told my partner Jo about this dream, she suggested I should look up the symbolism of bears.
Some sources see them as symbols of earth, others as representing transformation for the way they seemingly die when hibernating and spring to life again.
Anyway, it was a great scene.
Photo from http://www.dalerogersammonite.com/
This morning I awoke thinking about a retreat. It was led by Laura, who has led previous retreats I've been on but we were in a high school science class.
Laura and I talked about a scary feeling we were getting from the darkened corner of the science lab. She suggested that a woman at the retreat might use her spectrometer to investigate.
When I told my partner Jo about this dream, she suggested I should look up the symbolism of bears.
Some sources see them as symbols of earth, others as representing transformation for the way they seemingly die when hibernating and spring to life again.
Anyway, it was a great scene.
Photo from http://www.dalerogersammonite.com/
Ghostly melody
For my response I drew on other haiku I've written, compiling a collection and jamming on the ukulele until the following lyrics took shape:
Sleep a dark rough sea
shipwreck surrounding mystery
she hides
many things
Ripples reflecting streaming light
a thought surfacing in the night
both shallow and deep
rivers of consciousness while we sleep
Under morning glow
magpies gently chortle song
brightening my day
while the shadows are long
Ghostly melody
follow me into my day
fragment of a dream
won’t you please stay
Cockatoos exclaim
echoing among river red gums
morning has broken
and so am I
On the dry dawn breeze
a chattering in the trees
if birds knew words
I’d hear headlines
Ghostly melody
follow me into my day
fragment of a dream
come what may
Riding as dusk falls
nostalgia induced shopping malls
looking backwards
while moving ahead
Materialise
handwritten words on a page
watching thoughts appear
feeling my age
As days flutter by
they must feel like full lifetimes
to a butterfly
Ghostly melody
follow me into my day
fragment of a dream
leading me astray
Air pollution in the MIA
In many ways asthmatics such as Nicole and Reuben Portolesi are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine when it comes to air quality in the MIA
Airbourne smoke-particle pollution affects the health of all residents, with respiratory issues only the most obvious short-term impacts.
It is selfish of farmers to treat our atmosphere like an open sewer to dispose of their waste.
There is a need to promote alternatives to stubble burning.
Just as wastewater can no longer be flushed down rivers, steps need to be taken to stop large-scale disposal of waste into the atmosphere.
Air quality in the MIA needs to be monitored and an appropriate authority needs to be identified who can take action.
In 2016 an EPA spokesman stated in The Area News that farms did not fall under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act and the responsibility for regulation belonged to councils.
Griffith City Council's Director of Sustainable Development responded that local government "has no specific powers to act in regard to agricultural smoke or burn-off, or act on the subsequent air quality issues... It is unclear why the EPA say otherwise in regards to agricultural burn-off.”
While it is admirable the Rice Growers Association are taking steps to manage the issue, there are broader implications for every resident with the lack of monitoring and oversight of air quality in the MIA.
It is selfish of farmers to treat our atmosphere like an open sewer to dispose of their waste.
There is a need to promote alternatives to stubble burning.
Just as wastewater can no longer be flushed down rivers, steps need to be taken to stop large-scale disposal of waste into the atmosphere.
Air quality in the MIA needs to be monitored and an appropriate authority needs to be identified who can take action.
In 2016 an EPA spokesman stated in The Area News that farms did not fall under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act and the responsibility for regulation belonged to councils.
Griffith City Council's Director of Sustainable Development responded that local government "has no specific powers to act in regard to agricultural smoke or burn-off, or act on the subsequent air quality issues... It is unclear why the EPA say otherwise in regards to agricultural burn-off.”
While it is admirable the Rice Growers Association are taking steps to manage the issue, there are broader implications for every resident with the lack of monitoring and oversight of air quality in the MIA.
Rainbow Lorikeet mural
I've been thinking about it since watching these birds while visiting Valla Beach.
Party in the trees
loud colourful characters
Rainbow Lorikeets
Canoe Tree Park in Finley
Yesterday I stopped to look at the canoe tree in Finley
I'd guess this park was built in the early 1970s before the legislation came in for scarred trees to remain in situ.
The canoe tree must be old as the heartwood has hollowed, which also means one can't get an idea of whether a stone or steel axe was used.
I like the accompanying mural that gives an idea of the processes used by Aborignals to make a canoe from a cutting of River Red Gum bark.
The canoe tree must be old as the heartwood has hollowed, which also means one can't get an idea of whether a stone or steel axe was used.
Collaboration with Dr Phil
Back in 2008 I was lucky to have my camera when a spectacular lightning storm passed off the coast near Valla Beach
The next day I sent a pic to the local Midcoast Observer, who kindly shared this proof after printing it in their newspaper.
Recently when visiting Valla Beach I saw that my partner's uncle, Phillip Roxburgh, has rendered the image by hand.
I also saw more lightning at Valla Beach, both by night and day.
I also saw more lightning at Valla Beach, both by night and day.
Collaboration with Dr Greg
After the Crossing Streams exhibition last year, I asked Dr Greg Pritchard if he'd be interested in collaborating on a Renga
Renga predates haiku as a form of verse and uses a similar format with the addition of two seven-syllable lines forming a response.
For a while I'd been stumped trying to decide which of my haiku to offer to Greg.
In the lead-up to the recent poetry reading in Narrandera, I decided to share one I'd written for that event while camping by the Goulburn River:
Renga predates haiku as a form of verse and uses a similar format with the addition of two seven-syllable lines forming a response.
For a while I'd been stumped trying to decide which of my haiku to offer to Greg.
Ripples reflecting
streaming autumnal light
each moment passing
On the mountain, clouds come in
it is like a ship at sea
Dhal recipe
- Wash a packet of red lentils, then boil for up to 20 mins in a pot with about an equal amount of water or maybe a bit more.
- In a fry pan with oil cook an onion, half a bulb or more of garlic and about a teaspoon each of cumin, garam masala, cayenne pepper and curry powder.
- Add half a pack of mustard seeds, if they pop it's too hot.
- Add a teaspoon of stock powder or dissolve a cube in water or add salt to taste.
- Mix it all together in the pot with the mushy lentils, using a little water to get all the flavour from the frying pan.
- Serve with coriander, if you like, or add vegetables.
Patriarchy demands of males
In The Will to Change (2003), the feminist author bell hooks wrote:
The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.
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