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Category Archives: Life through the pen
Vale Nelson Mandela
“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”
“As the years progress one increasingly realises the importance of friendship and human solidarity. And if a 90-year-old may offer some unsolicited advice on this occasion, it would be that you, irrespective of your age, should place human solidarity, the concern for the other, at the centre of the values by which you live.”
Nelson Mandela
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected
Wild Conspiracies (a re-post)
I ask scribbly gum moths:
Why this graffiti on trees?
“Mind your own business,
they’re just doodles, if you please”
I ask a plodding snail:
Why the squiggles on the path?
“There ain’t nothing in it –
I just do it for a laugh”
I ask the sly hyena:
Why the tunnels ‘neath the trail?
“Well! Installation art’s
not only for the snail!”
I ask the bower bird:
Why that hoard of shining bling?
“Oh, poppet, it’s no mystery
objets d’art are my thing”
I ask the primping zebra:
What’s with the barcode?
“Poor darling, don’t you know?
Stripes are back in vogue”
But, you know, I don’t believe them –
It’s a vast conspiracy
It’s clear that they are sending
secret messages to me…
😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯
For more entries to the WPC Unexpected theme, see The Daily Post.
Blurb blurble bloop… Help! One-Sentence Biography Competition
I’m trying to get my first poetry book completed and self-published on Blurb. One of the elements I’m still missing is a short blurb/biography about me in relation to poetry – I don’t want to write this myself, and if I asked anyone in my family or non-blogging circle of friends, I’d get something along the lines of:
“‘x‘ is my ‘insert relation type here‘ – she writes poetry, but I’ve got no idea what she’s on about.“
So I’m looking for some help from you—the esteemed Blogging community (how’m I doing on the sycophantic flattery front?) for something short, and not necessarily serious, and thus am holding a one-sentence biography competition:
Post your entries in the comments section of this post.
I will include the kindest best ones on the front flap and may include any snide irreverent blooper blurbs on the back, all attributed of course.
Payment?!
Don’t be silly! We all know poetry books don’t sell!
The winner will, however, receive a mystery prize. 😉
Weekly Photo Challenge: An Unusual Point of View
Traffic
There is traffic
and, then, there
is a galaxy. Traffic does not move
at the speed of light, like a flash
of rage. Step into space
without the gravity suit
and you will see
there is traffic
and the oh so important
corporate man
and, then, there is the universe. I don’t look
at the pegs as I hang
out the washing. I look
for you
beyond the moon.
***********************************************************************
For more entries to this week’s photo challenge, see The Daily Post.
Creosote
Is the scent
of an ancestor’s skull kicked
down a bush runway –
an elephant remembers
bones and dust,
the echo of hyena
comedy nights, jaws
on buffalo bones
chalk and dust,
a tall silhouette beyond the runway –
a blind man – inhales the dusk
for ghost-lions
before crossing to light
the camp fire
blood and dust
in the dark, leopards
gaze at embers
of an ancient story
fate throws the bones,
a plane flies
into a hillside
flesh and blood,
bones and dust,
and creosote.
Sunny side up
Image via http://www.sxc.hu
“Breakfast tomorrow?”
“Yes.
“Our little weekend rituals
make me happy,
secure.
And prevent me from running
from the planet, screaming.”
OK, maybe I didn’t articulate that last line, hehe.
Weekly Photo Challenge: The Golden Hour
Finesse jetty and knots,
Rumble the motors’ power,
Slide past nodding yachts,
Skim glass at the golden hour.
The Sydney Harbour
is best explored by boat
at sunrise
If you’re not into boating, there are so many great walks around the harbour for all levels of fitness.
For more entries to this week’s photo challenge, see The Daily Post. Here are my favourite five:
Sea of Creepy Monsters (Warning: Not Suitable for Tillys)
I don’t believe in god or Intelligent D, But if I did, it would seem to me, While creating things wot live under the sea, He was high on coke or LSD.
When life gives you lemons…
This week’s photo challenge theme is one I’ve participated in previously, so I’m giving it a miss. Instead, in response to this question from Elizabeth over at Mirth and Motivation, I’m posting my Mondegreen poem, which I wrote for Gabrielle Bryden’s Citrus Fiesta some time ago.
naughty lemon by bb
LeMondegreen
I thought it really quite absurd
(and way too weird) when I heard
the 70s band Hot Chocolate sing
about the very strangest thing –
wild lemony love in Cadillacs,
the joys of lemons in the sack!
One day it dawned it wasn’t ‘lemons‘
of which they sung, but rather ‘heaven’s‘
and so the song proved less obscene,
and my mishearing, a Mondegreen 😯
I’m taking a break from blogging for a while.
Happy blogging
😀
And hope to see you on the other side.
Balancing
Image via http://www.sxc.hu
The upside of the downside is creativity,
downside of the downside – survivability,
upside of the upside,
anxiety-free,
downside of the upside…
..dearth of poetry.
‘In a dark time, the eye begins to see’
Theodore Roethke
——————————————————————————————–
Someone who’s definitely not suffering from a dearth of inspiration at the moment is artist (and hidden poet) Bénédicte Delachanal.
Check out her wonderfully humorous marriage of art and words as she tackles this month’s NaPoWriMo challenge. C’est une joie. 😀
Search Engine Poetry: Search me…
Unsung Heroes
Vilakazi,
in the riots of ’76,
Henderson,
in the shadows of ’77,
Bailey,
through the dark and bitter end:
Not sacrificing themselves
for a cause,
these ordinary men,
just rescuing
our hopes,
one act at a time.
Photo by RIP – © beeblu
Love’s Journey
Image via http://www.sxc.hu
We know
it’s our unclaimed baggage
at the station,
more than a few lockers full.
We don’t go there,
travel light,
well enough,
without it.
But impossible journeys
plague
our dreams.
Weekly Photo Challenge: (A) kiss (to build a scream on)
No photo this week: I’m ambivalent about the whole kissing thing.
Sure, a kiss of any nature feels good (unless it’s from some lecherous golfing partner who’s intent on kissing instead of shaking hands) but then there’s that sound: like a dog licking itself or a person chewing with their mouth open – ewwww.
People kissing on the big screen or TV? Fine, just turn down the sound.
I thought this particular aversion was just another peculiar quirk of my ultra-cranky disposition, until a few years ago when a young colleague expressed his mystification at why his wife would fly into a blind rage whenever their spaniel would do his daily licking grooming.
“Does she have the same reaction to people kissing on TV?” I asked.
“Yes!!” he shrieked.
I was onto something.
I did some research. Turns out, it’s a disorder (Of course. What isn’t?!). And it goes by the name of Misophonia.
In my case, these rage-inducing noises are limited to certain mouth sounds in others: teeth-sucking, open-mouthed chewing, licking, slurpy kissing, lip-smacking, spaghetti-sucking, finger-licking (I guess you won’t be inviting me over for dinner any time soon, haha).
Actually, it’s not that bad – I don’t have to leave the room to deal with my neurological irrationality. Just wish I could use it to my advantage: I’d be soooo thin if I had the same reaction to the sound of my own chewing…
What about you? Are there any sounds that drive you beyond crazy?
****
For genuine entries to this week’s photo challenge, see The Daily Post.
Great Cinematic Moments
This is one of my all-time favourites.
I took ballet, modern and tap-dancing lessons from the age of 3 and aspired to dance like Cyd, but after a friend adapted the lyrics of ‘She’s a Long-legged Woman Dressed in Black’ to “she’s a short-legged woman” to describe me…well, you can guess the rest.
Sometimes friends have to be cruel to be kind.
Fix
Chocolate is essential.
It’s existential.
I did not, I repeat, did not attempt to bribe Nancy at Spirit Lights the Way with chocolate so she would include me as a semi-finalist in her ‘The Writer’s Desk Challenge’. 😆
Thanks, Nancy – I’m delighted.
Vote for your favourite entry here.
The Worst Day
I can never tell you
About that day…
It was the death of gravity, a falling
Away,
Unspeakable, unspeakable
Is all I can say, forever
It’s unspeakable
And the worst day.
The Writer’s Desk – A Challenge from Spirit Lights the Way
I rarely write poetry 
at my desk –
but prefer cafes,
trains,
wide open spaces,
gardens,
forests,
whispering places –
and on dark, stormy nights,
my bed,
next to cheeky faces
😀
xxx
For a chance to win a great prize in Nancy’s challenge,
hop over to Spirit Lights the Way for details
Search Engine Poetry: Sweet Planet Poems
She was the first blogger to make me laugh out loud, by asking me, on my About page, whether I was a man or a woman – the question astounded me and was the beginning of my appreciation of the mind-altering value of blogging: the way others perceive us is often so different from the way we see ourselves.
Image via http://www.sxc.hu
Insightful and multi-talented, Monica of Sweet Planet Poems is one of my oldest blogging friends – and how grateful I am that she has stayed the distance! 🙂 She has a delightful sense of humour, a rare generosity of spirit and a passion for the natural world that infuses her enchanting blog and publications.
She is a tireless campaigner for the protection of wolves in their natural habitat and shares their mystique in her wonderful poems, videos and photos many of which she creates on her frequent trips to Yellowstone National Park.
Monica has woven this delightful found poem in response to my Search Engine Poetry Challenge – I see it as a mirror of all the good in her heart (even the “picking up dog poop” line. :-D)
xxx
And here are a few of my favourite posts on Sweet Planet Poems:
Wild Wolf Encounters – this post is a free download of Monica’s wonderful collection of poetry on wolves.
Thanks for participating, dear Monica
😀
beeblu blog 
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