Rob Schackne #734 - "Yeah years ago"

                  Yeah years ago
                  no dark side
                  of the moon
                  it was all dark
                  the only thing that
                  made it look light
                  was the sun
                  how pretty it was
                  snow clouds gather
                  ah the bright side

                  a chance of sorrow
                  we don’t hang together
                  we hang separate
                  mind by mind
                  swing this tight
                  in the wind

Rob Schackne #733 - "Still a winter sheen"

            Still a winter sheen
            will it keep me alive
            if I make it myself

            sun showers today
            emus racing into town
            they come look for water

            if trouble there's harmony
            drought lasts too long
            my livestock dies

            don't augur spring
            till the winter's over
            we plant it now

            I make a new friend

            we sleep together
            a bad man is impeached

Kit Kelen #960 - take it from the top

960
take it from the top 


I went to school with no pants on
I drove from the back seat
I fell down the famous cliff of forever
I couldn't kick the ball
I wore a wig – it came off at the party
then I was black cloth judge
I grew a beard where you don't
no teeth!   then I had them again, too many!
there was a rhyme I was chasing
and I was up a tree
and a cat and a dog and some new kind of possum
all of them were after me
there was a tune I was following
and something I had to write down
the war was all around us
the key was the thing in my hand
but I lost it
I dreamt up God instead
I was in parliament in my pyjamas
no, I think they were yours
you let go – I was hot
the house was where I'd never been
and yet it was my home
I woke to the all-forgetting world
so sane, so hale, so whole

Clark Gormley #16 Stormtrooper

ever notice how
the face of a
stormtrooper
looks like a
white Outlander?

was George Lucas
influenced by
Japanese
SUVs?

even the name
sounds like a
ripoff

the conspiracy
entices until
you realise that
Mitsubishi
only started
making them in
2001

Kit Kelen #959 - all in a twinkling

959

all in a twinkling 

 

here we are

we become more beautiful with time

it's in each other's eyes

home is a forest

and upstairs in it

birds all sing

we do

it's for no reason

here we are

takes no time at all

every way arrows all ours

and time's more beautiful with us

here, take my hand

climb up

so much to say

and sit to yarn

we're the fire

and kettle till we brew

sip

stretch

I slept like a tree

all with my branches up

here, take an oar

then I'll be rudder

in a twinkling

set out to sea

and soar

be breeze

to whisper

kiss

and for no reason

it's in each other's eyes

more beautiful

with time

Rob Schackne #732 - "The snake bites all day"

The snake bites all day
the shark has pearly teeth

they hoop on their tails
they get wrapped up

walk around in darkness
feel for what is gone

it was there last week
nothing is there now

watch the little waves
lap up left and right

all rather shallow
the middle of a life

do you dream of crocodiles
I'll take that as a yes

Kit Kelen #958 - not telling

958

not telling

dark place they knew

and would not take us

unspeakable

imagine the pain with which they lived

the pictures seared in all their seeing

skin crawled

guts churned

from the fact

of the words

from the numbers they knew

not telling

hands of the drowning

still grip their legs now

can still feel the kick

how they gulped for that air

not telling what they will not tell

not telling what there's not to say

so we will never know

how it was

that they were not for death

not yet

ache or scar

or what they saw

how some were spared

these were the bones

who danced to light

imagine the pain with which they live

imagine the truth of who they are

we will never know

Ken Trimble #51 The game

On the face of it, a simple cricket match isn't much to write home about, however there are times when you think, did I just experience that? Staying in the forest of peace ashram was beautiful with its daily rituals of prayer , meditation, and work. The days had its rhythm of the Hours, the sacred calling into being . My hut was a friend to all sentiment beings; mosquitoes, fruit bats, spiders, gecko, cockroaches and even a giant king cobra that slid by my huts wall in the late afternoon light.  But it was in between the breaks of prayer, and ritual, when I would set off down the dusty road to the main highway, to have a coffee and smoke my woodbine with the owner and his family at his shop near the bus shelter when life really took shape. Chickens, dogs, and children played around me as the big bellied owner smiled his toothless grin as he looked towards his Sydney Harbour Bridge poster,  the one I had given him the day before.  From there, I would cross the road, and cross the bridge that overlooked the canal, where children swam, and mothers washed their clothes, as I set out  to the village to wander through its lanes. The children thought of me as a great oddity as I became their Peter Pan as they danced and laughed around me like a swarm of laughing  bees.  Three children perhaps around fourteen asked if I would like to come and watch the cricket with them at their home. England was playing Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Steve Waugh was nearing his hundred just before stumps. I sat in their tiny home watching the cricket with the dogs, chickens, and children , and parents, gobbling homemade biscuits drinking chai. The great man was on 98 with one ball remaining. Inside the tiny home everything became deathly still, even the village itself seemed to be suspended in time, the moment was electric. Up came the spinner with our hearts in our throats as he released the ball, it seemed to take an eternity to reach El Capitan, then whack, Steve smacked it to the boundary for four. The silence suddenly interrupted into a roar that could be heard all the way back to the Antipodes .  Chickens went flying, dogs started to  howl,  and the kids went off  dancing with one crazed Australian and you knew life was good, in fact, it was very fucking good. This is life, I mean this stuff we call ordinary became extraordinary as if that moment was a grace. To celebrate with that family was one of the greatest joys of this man's life.  I walked back to the ashram as high as a kite as if I had encountered God, and maybe I had.

James Walton #112 Uncaged animals

They speak

but then they don’t

these handlers of truth

their baton tongues rattle

along loose evaporating bars

we see through a decline

without any nurture

the promise withering within

still

I’ll hold your hand

step out Fred and Ginger

fall and rise

hand on cuff less wrist

over this diapason rescue

but then again

the sideshow ennui

calls us back

one last performance

we will grow tired

of the ringmaster’s whip

stand up with the big cat

nine tails or lives

if you slip

I will slip too

one for one

this is how a number grows.

Sarah St Vincent Welch #374 Project 366 aka Project 365+1

pellucid leap of a year

a thingstead a folkmoot opera

tarot by three hundred and sixty-six

times as many poems as could muster

sprinting to friend’s words their images lives

dreams their learning calling jump in jump in in

all here gentle as the strings of a guitar an aperture

opening a character and in my language in our languages

our words these friendships a borealis a raven caw wolf song

scavenging the worlds kind glaneurs grains in hand barefoot icy

avatars of seasons turning pivots opening to our screens to upload

check and check are you here, there, I see hear you your laughter your skies   

Kerri Shying R # 494 - crawling up the track

she had her whole house-full

out in the road    washer

dryer    telly   mattress

that ab swing   thoughts

formed   of death 

crawling up the track

a further look    work jacket

high vis    balled up     I took

a brand new first aid

kit    too much a coward

to haul her hummock in

Clark Gormley #15 The National Broadcaster is not her usual self

I hadn’t been listening
to her all that much
lately so it came
as a surprise when
I tuned in tonight
to hear her talking
herself up, boasting
beating her chest, it
was not like her, kind
of desperate as if
she felt she had to
justify her very
existence I’m worried
I think she might be
in trouble

Kerri Shying R # 493 - seems history is a real chucker

a baby was born with an abnormally long head 

on youTube today     I wonder why I am kicking

against the stutter   of  emotion    forward

backward     long heads     new heads 

the graven image thick and fast    bowled overarm

 seems history  is a real chucker

another stain  shows up   in parliament  

it’s nothing but a game     I read the paper 

there it is again   the no-news   the still-nothing  

champing for some novelty   a wicket fallen

 a longer-headed   baby  claim

Kit Kelen #957 - living in the pictures (or I decided)

957

living in the pictures

or

I decided

I decided to live in a book

with conversation and pictures

all my friends were already there

chatting away, drawing – and colour!

there was more inside than outside the book

more world I mean

more stories, more supper

more pictures, more fun

I rode my bicycle in … just like that

I just felt I had to get away, to get in...

do you ever feel like that?

outside of those pages

such silly things!

some days everything was on fire

people were rough and rude and mean

and not so easy to say why

it was much safer to be inside

where we are now

in the book we all took infinite care

I built a lovely little home in there

(you have to do it in a dream

with snatches of cloud

and wishes and whims)

then what was made becomes us now!

the garden is always blooming

even with sun

and with snow

I keep a flower there

with a beautiful name

so no one can ever remember

I take my clouds

for regular walks

and I know them each of them by name

because we're in a book

in pictures

I know that I will see you there!

please come! it's not so far

so I set off with one fine day

intending to be home for dinner

I took a rainbow with me

packed lunch, and a map in my head

the thing is I made up my way as I went

with here's a mountain

there a valley

everywhere a river runs

and hot

so I hop on a little raft

(that was always waiting)

away across oceans

met creatures all sorts

wombat bigger than a bus

(Wilhelmina, she was)

I rode Escali-wagu-lator

(funny sort of up down thing

with stairs for scales

and big broad grin)

of course the Anybeast was in

and you can just imagine

who and how and what

you must!

or else there isn't any beast

so won't you please just see!

'twas then I came upon the Snoozy

sent to sleep by the Lulla-bug

high hammocked for best rest

and tip toe round with me

won't you?

we mustn't wake the Snoozy

or else?

or else I can't remember

I can't remember here

but Snoozy dreamt us all

this up

or I was dreaming Snoozy

or snoozily

or you were

or someone was

it must have been like that because

or else I can't remember

in any case you all were there

and you and you of course

my friends!

it's so lovely to see you all

we have a darling cup of tea

me, Anybeast, Escaligwag, Lullabug and not forgetting Snoozy

and Wilhelmina Wombat too

then scones

and after all

a walk

to make more mountains

our quest –

to find Chamele-flower

(the any-flower-you-like

it could be anywhere at all

so you'll have to take a hike)

bring boots!

bring bicycle!

bring wings!

right now I'm crossing a desert

by bird we're just inventing –

it has a dragon aspect

and some pelican out front

and little tickly feather ends

that brush up on your legs

when we bank to duck

a star or so

maybe just a planet

I think I'll call my bird Quentin

and what will you call yours?

of course they are all their own birds

and you can't tell them where to fly

but they take you to the very best places

you'll never know where

and you mustn't ask why

and now it's dark I'm back to dream

inside the book we're writing

a shame I missed my dinner

but this is more exciting

I say this to be fair –

there's always more in the book

you can go anywhere in there

and still not know

where else there is

and still all in a book

no one could build the worlds to hold

all the stories to tell in there

Kerri Shying R # 492 - as Euphrates not so western as my Darling

trying to get ready   for the rolling stock

each item    now   dimensions   weight

utility   across the days and places   thrown

across my screen of mind   iron horses

bring me down   to rivers ancient

as Euphrates   not so western as my Darling

sing me fragrant  loads of  babies  first time

met   the complicated skin   of Dad and Mum

the wisdom of the whispers   brothers

sisters  skeins   slid along the same old needles

another  edging to the pattern   grown

Clark Gormley #14 quiz

this quiz 

is 

a test to see 

if we 

can squeeze 

and tweezer 

out the long

forgotten

detritus 

that might

have stuck in there

forever

and like a splinter 

it feels 

so good

to get it out

Rob Schackne #731 - Perdido (for Andrew Burke)

           
            
         Perdido

                              for Andrew Burke
           
           Sure I love it 
           and what right
           anyway is there
           for me to forgive
           now it’s framed
           black men in suits
           the white applause
           life is like that
           it's only the blues
           alas my little dreams
           money changes hands
           the glorious music
           alas a little short
           of the revolution

Ellington - Perdido

Kit Kelen #956 - o God who is not

956

o God who is not

for godsbother

why be here?

why bother?

what effort to be believed on

(weight of the world and more)

surely elsewhere's easier?

it's another thing on paper

or in the sky

you're everywhere when you're not there

you could be my conscience

lightning strike, feeling tide

Christmas all at once

roll over for the tummy rub

we know

everyone knows because

the God-ache without

the God-ache within

to whom we, hands together, pray

as if beginning blank

we make our own language for it

I can say what I like to you

read you like a book

and any test

let me hang you round my neck

trundle you about diversely

saints and angels, devils, cherubs

incubi, succubus

so

we never can agree

shall I bore you with a vow?

it's a good one

something I'll never do

you bet

oops

just slipped

a vulgar oath perhaps?

or promise what I can't, in case...

o God who is not

as much with me

as any other

what adventures we've had

thanks for the soul

I know I am the miracle

we are

and world as well

you too

God go with you

God be with me

please bless

be on my side

do we have a deal?

Rob Schackne #730 - Life On Mars

Life On Mars

                       for Sarah St Vincent Welch

Old snakes say
don’t tread on me
watch where
you step

neti neti
not this, not this
it's the Vedas

rust my heart
shine the pieces
that still can shine

tat tvam asi
at any rate
you’re it

fuhgeddaboudit

life on Mars
write like
it's a world
caving in

Sarah St Vincent Welch #373 I am writing out of this (for KK #949)

I am writing out of this

outright

right you are

write right right write

left

ambi bambi ambi I am

we are are we? 

right on

far out

writing out of the only

language I’ve got

bot not

what?

writing into it

to get out of this corner

out of here

herein

worn out

just around

standing in

righting out

Clark Gormley #13

dual carriage highway
with median dip, a glove
to catch the fatigued

Kit Kelen #955 - nothing but what is there

955

nothing but what is there 

ekphrastic

Caspar David Friedrich's 'Landscape with Rising Fog' (1819-20) 

in a mist of one tree

ground sloping

from green earth

mossed

stones show through

far and far bright

come like a forest

world as if steaming still

out of these clouds

shows the blue 

Kit Kelen #954

954

as animal

as animal

did all sorts of things

you can't even imagine my

shall-we-call-them-habits

as animal I knew

let's say I was the whole adventure

and ache

there isn't a book of it

not even in pictures

as animal

some certain all-sorts of acts

my call

for argument, of the wild

heard over quite some distance

days gathered me to riot

imagine

full of tucker

grubby grovelling about

I was all out of the blue then

not even down from the trees

earlier, before flesh, fur

when I was merely swim

and caught a wave

set sea

clean of least suspicions

should anyone have opened a hand then

fall forward on my face

I simply would not have known

you see

I dragged myself on through the untold

into the mire and got together with

nobody said 'you animal you'

or nicely if they did

it wasn't really nakedness

it was I would call it luck

the chasing round the page

ah but then the whisper, sigh

and laughter you could not account

when I was wag-your-tail

who'd care?

I can't remember the arrangements

said all with the eyes

and sniffle

and wink

wink back

between us

not a word

Kerri Shying R # 491 - Garden of Eden have been a different story

Sunday    I learned about potatoes 

hidden   dirty   grown in tyres

winter  fruit   of blazing sunshine under

withered tops   gathering the handfuls  I’m

childish with delight    would the

 Garden of Eden have been a different story

if Eve had offered Adam the potato

sat roasting  round the fire   needing

skin cloaks pulled tight for warmth

heavy bellied  after carbs   curling up

for sleep   spuds born innocent and free

Clark Gormley #12 bird call

plastic rattling 

against the bicycle spokes

lewins honeyeater 

Kit Kelen #953 - weight of the soul

953
weight of the soul
for godsbother 


I built the cage
I have the keys

cloud come to again
a little forest me
made of some doubt
and stream to run away

so this is captivity?
I always wondered

a day in the dark
sun slipped
sunk in the balance
bobbed up for air

damned whichever way
and blessed

no, never feathered for flight
but gossamer, go at it
like wearing nothing

glimpse of all other lives
worlds in it
creature we
phantom of an opera

darkest crimes
are down to here
just think of an adjective

sunk in the balance
bobbed up for air

like that pimple under the skin
or poem you know must be there

pray for me, won't you

first thing that comes into your head
when stars reach down to touch

it's all because you say

Rob Schackne #729 - Unusual Combination

Unusual Combination


There is brokenness
the animals run
there is sky

the fires burning

charred hearts

and the black & white
between hope and despair

unusual combination

strange times
you'll agree
it's a Saturday
the wind is strong
let's confine ourselves
to clear our heads
to love

James Walton #111 I could not remember the name of Twister

the wind is in from Antarctica

banging the sheet metal of night

I threw a ball up into the sky

watched the inevitable fall

of civilisations through clouds

where mercury boiled

but turned on an alchemist’s anvil

filling teeth in truth composite

an afterthought in rain

lapsed for thawed pretensions

the way a tree believes an absolute

in the felling bounce of one hand

ambidextrous for any reverberation

as mesmerising as the smell of leather

balanced precariously between

the shot tower’s dust

and the bend to another colour

over the tight rope of a stranger’s inscribe

where I swear you were carrying

the swirl of a mandala

softly as a shell less egg

catch it catch it you’re out!

Clark Gormley #11 Conversion

On downsizing

from a quarter acre block

to a 2.1 hectare unit,

I concluded that

I may have erred

in my metric conversion