The poets spoke tonight at Wild Words in Darwin.
The grey was peeled back, hope revived!
The energy from identification is intense. Blood knows blood,
Truth finds truth, life shines through!
I heard the very vow I took decades ago proclaimed back at me
Spoken by an unflinching warrior in the company of warriors
Am I revived? will air fill my lungs?
Colour returns to my eyes. I see, I hear, I feel.
Friday, November 27, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Canisters of coffee tea and flour
There was a time when I had a job and houses were pretty cheap....
I didn't go for that.... Instead I spent my time riding round the country with scooter trash, that was fun.
Now I don't have "...a spare half a million."
But this song'll do! Thanks Courtney Barnett.
My Grandparents lived in a California Bungalow in Coburg... I still remember those old tubs with tea sugar and flour written on them, I don't think anyone drank coffee back then.
I didn't go for that.... Instead I spent my time riding round the country with scooter trash, that was fun.
Now I don't have "...a spare half a million."
But this song'll do! Thanks Courtney Barnett.
My Grandparents lived in a California Bungalow in Coburg... I still remember those old tubs with tea sugar and flour written on them, I don't think anyone drank coffee back then.
Wet road
I traveled by bike on the wet road,
steam rose, traffic flowed,
Dodged the dodgy, flooded street gutters
broken bottles and mangled toads...
Passed the arse end of Darwin town,
Shaggy bearded tramp of a bloke
wet trousers drag each stroke,
When you ride in the tropics you know the taste,
Stale sweat mixed with the rain
From my office I can role past St Vinnies lunch time queue
Stale bread, cold tea...
daytime TV
volume maxed
daytime TV
volume maxed
I was headed for parliament
Wedding cake castle, ten minutes flat
tyre mud splashed on my back
crotch chafed, humidity 80%
crotch chafed, humidity 80%
Stop!
The road and the towers were too much
I looked to my left to old One Mile camp,
Bereft and forgotten
Bulldozers ready for their final cut
No joy there... I rode on
I arrived at Parliament
just in time for the announcement....
The road and the towers were too much
I looked to my left to old One Mile camp,
Bereft and forgotten
Bulldozers ready for their final cut
No joy there... I rode on
I arrived at Parliament
just in time for the announcement....
The minister will not be joining us today.
Seems our leaders are a bunch of big girls blouses
To afraid to face the public, in case of greenies, and those damned rebel rousers!
Seems our leaders are a bunch of big girls blouses
To afraid to face the public, in case of greenies, and those damned rebel rousers!
"Toughen up Princess"
Monday, November 16, 2015
And the rain came down
First it was hot,
Then there was rumbling,
Clouds gathered,
Wind blew....
We picked the corn
And then the rain came down....
And it reminded me of a song.
But the rain came down.... and the walls remained, and half our crop was spoiled it got wet the night before and now the creek is clogged with silt and we haven't changed....
Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya....
Then there was rumbling,
Clouds gathered,
Wind blew....
We picked the corn
And then the rain came down....
And it reminded me of a song.
But the rain came down.... and the walls remained, and half our crop was spoiled it got wet the night before and now the creek is clogged with silt and we haven't changed....
Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya....
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Fan (grateful for)
today I'm grateful that I've got a ceiling fan. When it's hot I can have a shower then stand under the fan.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Gratitudefulness
(disclaimer: the following post is not advocating cold turkey withdrawal from prescribed medication nor is it an informed opinion on the effects of any particular drug/brain affecting chemical)
Lists!
I don't particularly go for lists... In fact I think quite often, too much importance is put on lists.
Generally I don't write them or hold to them...
Not really into lists...
Chances are my name is on a few... lists..
I always forget to take the shopping list.
I come home with the wrong stuff.
My wife writes lists. She wrote the shopping list... I forgot to get her stuff...
I reckon I coulda done with that list
I'm pondering the idea of starting a list.
My mate Rod kept a list.
They had him locked up but Rod bailed
Heavy metal psych ward stupor is a fate worse than death he said.
Apparently Lithium is a heavy metal.
He had a heavy metal in his veins and he didn't like it.
They pumped the metal into his blood and it fused with his brain,
He couldn't catch airplanes. He said the stuff set off the security alarms...
I still don't know if that's actually true or if he imagined the alarms. Either way he developed an elaborate series of counter moves to avoid known danger spots...
Rod reckoned he had some very strange ideas in his head which he learned to isolate from what he was sure were his actual thoughts (I don't know how he managed to do that but he prayed a lot.)
Would I recognize the difference between rational thoughts and some hallucination caused by a combination of naturally occurring chemicals in the brain mixed with the highly toxic concoction used de- crazy a mad man?
Anyway Rod decided the stuff was killing him, so, Rod bolted. He travelled by land with the Lithium fog closing on him.
Paranoid withdrawal, fuel stop munchies no grog, no ganja joints or fags... no paracetamol no coffee maybe not even any chocolate! Rod did hard core detox on the road! He alighted (Southern Town) on a wing and a prayer and by the gift of God's grace he arrived in the north of the country alive and unscathed.
Rod was mad! Stone cold sober mad, mad from the cure and mad from the disease. I don't think you can't puke that stuff out and enema's won't help either... I wondered if it actually leaves at all... does it rip out chunks of your mind when it goes?
Rod threw himself to the mercy of the God of drunks and mad men and he survived...
and every day of his troubled survival and the life he salvaged he wrote a list. The list was helping him to get better. It was a special list, not of events or activities or things to do or things to get... It was a Gratitude List!
Rod took the list very seriously. One day when we were both living at the Rainforest retreat he showed me his list. His list was in a thick book and it's pages were full! His list kept him sane. Every day of his recovery he added one new thing to his gratitude list!
DAVID'S GRATITUDE LIST
11/11/15
SHOWER.
It's the buildup every day I get home hot and sweaty. In my home I have a shower. I am grateful for my shower. I let the water run a few moments to get the hot water out of the pipes and soon a lovely coolish stream of water comes flowing out of the shower rose. I stand under it and let it was the sweat and grime from my body. When I step out of the shower I feel human. Having a shower with running water is a blessing. I am grateful.
Lists!
I don't particularly go for lists... In fact I think quite often, too much importance is put on lists.
Generally I don't write them or hold to them...
Not really into lists...
Chances are my name is on a few... lists..
I always forget to take the shopping list.
I come home with the wrong stuff.
My wife writes lists. She wrote the shopping list... I forgot to get her stuff...
I reckon I coulda done with that list
I'm pondering the idea of starting a list.
My mate Rod kept a list.
They had him locked up but Rod bailed
Heavy metal psych ward stupor is a fate worse than death he said.
Apparently Lithium is a heavy metal.
He had a heavy metal in his veins and he didn't like it.
They pumped the metal into his blood and it fused with his brain,
He couldn't catch airplanes. He said the stuff set off the security alarms...
I still don't know if that's actually true or if he imagined the alarms. Either way he developed an elaborate series of counter moves to avoid known danger spots...
Rod reckoned he had some very strange ideas in his head which he learned to isolate from what he was sure were his actual thoughts (I don't know how he managed to do that but he prayed a lot.)
Would I recognize the difference between rational thoughts and some hallucination caused by a combination of naturally occurring chemicals in the brain mixed with the highly toxic concoction used de- crazy a mad man?
Anyway Rod decided the stuff was killing him, so, Rod bolted. He travelled by land with the Lithium fog closing on him.
Paranoid withdrawal, fuel stop munchies no grog, no ganja joints or fags... no paracetamol no coffee maybe not even any chocolate! Rod did hard core detox on the road! He alighted (Southern Town) on a wing and a prayer and by the gift of God's grace he arrived in the north of the country alive and unscathed.
Rod was mad! Stone cold sober mad, mad from the cure and mad from the disease. I don't think you can't puke that stuff out and enema's won't help either... I wondered if it actually leaves at all... does it rip out chunks of your mind when it goes?
Rod threw himself to the mercy of the God of drunks and mad men and he survived...
and every day of his troubled survival and the life he salvaged he wrote a list. The list was helping him to get better. It was a special list, not of events or activities or things to do or things to get... It was a Gratitude List!
Rod took the list very seriously. One day when we were both living at the Rainforest retreat he showed me his list. His list was in a thick book and it's pages were full! His list kept him sane. Every day of his recovery he added one new thing to his gratitude list!
DAVID'S GRATITUDE LIST
11/11/15
SHOWER.
It's the buildup every day I get home hot and sweaty. In my home I have a shower. I am grateful for my shower. I let the water run a few moments to get the hot water out of the pipes and soon a lovely coolish stream of water comes flowing out of the shower rose. I stand under it and let it was the sweat and grime from my body. When I step out of the shower I feel human. Having a shower with running water is a blessing. I am grateful.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Alive for a moment on Wanguri earth
Many thanks to my Wanguri friends who shared their homeland at Dhalinybuy for a few short days while celebrating the recent translation of Mark's Gospel.
Visiting Dhalinybuy was a much needed interlude, a chance to simply live and experience true fellowship among some treasured Yolngu peace makers.
Once again I am posting a few random photos from days spent in a special place which my words fail to describe. Long Live the Homeland Movement!
 |
| Wanguri Church leaders, translators and the UCA Northern Synod Moderator |
Visiting Dhalinybuy was a much needed interlude, a chance to simply live and experience true fellowship among some treasured Yolngu peace makers.
 |
| Gospel of Mark translated into Wanguri Language |
 |
| The people came down to the river for baptism... by the dozens! |
 |
| Translators present Wanguri leaders with their work |
 |
| We all jump in |
 |
| Holy Communion of Ngathu (cycad nut) bread and Yirritja guku (honey) |
Wednesday, November 04, 2015
Stalked by a straw neck
At home we have a resident Ibis. I don't know why he's decided to hang out at our place but he's been there since we arrived.
He sometimes eats from a near by park but lately he's been stalking me!
This morning as I spread some Rosella bush seeds that I've been soaking he swooped down from his vantage point on the TV antenna and proceeded to pick out every seed I had sewn!
He sometimes eats from a near by park but lately he's been stalking me!
This morning as I spread some Rosella bush seeds that I've been soaking he swooped down from his vantage point on the TV antenna and proceeded to pick out every seed I had sewn!
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