HAPPY NEW YEAR

"Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson & His Pops Concert Orchestra

imagine
being happy again
i'm a poet so i can
i'm a poet so i am
Merry Christmas !

GOODBYE IMAGINARY GARDEN WITH REAL TOADS

End Of Year

Bondi Beach



at nightmare year's end
we could sit on bondi beach
wearing our gas masks
to celebrate





OR
we could do a scomo
(our fleet footed prime minister
of the im alright jack and
the rest of you can get stuffed brigade )
and

ESCAPE





to hawaii for a holiday
where the sky is blue
and you can breathe the air




you see this
this piece of coal may kill
you
but not
me
i'm outta here





so long suckers
i'm off to hawaii
thank you jesus

Midweek Motif - Poets United

In The Bleak Midwinter : Choir of Kings College, Cambridge

taking the moment
to wish everyone
a merry christmas
with special thanks
to my blogger friends
for their prayers and support
during this difficult time

“There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.”

― Richard Attenborough

Landay Poem

he served her at the check out counter
a young  delightful refugee in need of a chat

twas a large order so there was time
she could see he enjoyed the encounter very much

rude impatient customer complains
her instant rapier response hits the mark hard

dark mutters and murmurs chill the air
they both laugh say goodbye she knows she'll see him again

 Imaginary Garden with Real Toads



Written for Sannas’s prompt ~ May the fire in our hearts keep burning as though there is no end ~ Our challenge is to write a Landay (or a series of Landai) on a subject matter of our liking.
“It’s a traditional Afghan form which consists of a single couplet.
There are nine syllables in the first line and thirteen syllables in the second. These short poems typically address themes of love, grief, homeland, war, and separation.”

Ship Wreck

Pharos ~ The Lighthouse
Kerry O'Connor
@skyloverpoetry



floating in the dark sea
the beam is feint
so far away
but enough to sight a floating log
to cling on  to
to be given a little hope
to know she is cherished
to know she is  not alone

Imaginary Garden with Real Toads  - last post- Toads is closing down.

Red Sails in the Sunset

breathing the air in sydney
is equivalent to smoking
34 cigarettes a day

the blue sky city
no longer

blanketed in toxic smog
a bleak prediction for the summer
not much christmas joy about this year
a pall lies over the mall

nero fiddled
while rome burned
no string accompaniment
for australia's incineration
only hacking coughs and warnings
to stay inside and close your windows-

thirty seven percent of the fires
are deliberately lit
change of law needed
to impose harsh sentences on arsonists
regardless of age

a change is as good as a holiday
don't think so!
winter escapees would be advised
to rethink the burning brown land
as a summer holiday destination

Midweek Motif - Poets United


Just landed in Sydney for an overnight stop before I head back to London and WOW!!! The sky is yellow with bush fire smoke, the city is choking right now. I've never seen anything like this before!
joel speed




(This photo was taken at 4pm, it's 33C outside, it should be bright sun ) – at Sydney Airport (SYD)



 

 Bondi Beach

RIP CLIVE JAMES

Shadorma

goodbye clive
who loved italian
opera
rest in peace
the poet from kogarah
made us laugh often

tango champ
spoke eight languages
translated
il dante
into poetic verses
a renaissance man






loved telly
high and low culture
loved sydney
miss piggy
his humour was common sense
dancing in sunlight


One of his recently published poems, Japanese Maple, is about a tree given to him by his daughter. In this deeply poignant poem, James delights in the tree's soft presence in the back garden of his Cambridge home, while challenging himself to live until autumn in order to see its leaves "turn to flame".

Japanese Maple 

Clive James born October 7th 1939 - died November 24th  2019

Your death, near now, is of an easy sort.
So slow a fading out brings no real pain.
Breath growing short
Is just uncomfortable. You feel the drain
Of energy, but thought and sight remain:

Enhanced, in fact. When did you ever see
So much sweet beauty as when fine rain falls
On that small tree
And saturates your brick back garden walls,
So many Amber Rooms and mirror halls?

Ever more lavish as the dusk descends
This glistening illuminates the air.
It never ends.
Whenever the rain comes it will be there,
Beyond my time, but now I take my share.

My daughter’s choice, the maple tree is new.
Come autumn and its leaves will turn to flame.
What I must do
Is live to see that. That will end the game
For me, though life continues all the same:

Filling the double doors to bathe my eyes,
A final flood of colours will live on
As my mind dies,
Burned by my vision of a world that shone
So brightly at the last, and then was gone.

‘Japanese Maple’ appears in Clive James’s collection, Sentenced to Life.

Shadorma

 TIME

am longing
for a little time
added on
to the day
twenty four hours not enough
life  just too busy

time is short
to get all things done
it flies by
too quickly
then comes the knock at the door
we all must answer

tis always
an unexpected
big surprise
so who knows
what lies ahead of us at
any given time





Midweek Motif Poets United

Thank You

lovely ladies
in the netherlands
a sewing group
making mittens
for the koalas
so many
with burnt paws

Blue

The wedding tradition is said to bring good luck.“something borrowed, something blue” dates back to Queen Elizabeth 1 era. It is often quoted with the last line missing, 

something old
something new
something borrowed
something blue
a silver sixpence in her shoe 










the dress was old
the veil was new
the earrings  borrowed
bouquet was blue
she never knew about the sixpence
alas the inevitable happened
and who knows
it might have made the difference

Average marriage length

In 2017, the average length of an Australian marriage that ended in divorce was 12.0 years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) [4]. This figure has increased steadily since 1993, when the average marriage length was 10.7 years .
Further, the average marriage length to separation in Australia is 8.3 years, meaning there is a disparity between when couples separate and when they actually divorce [4].

For The Weekend

Woman Rescues Burnt Koala From Australian Bushfire

Awakening


awakening 
to the plight of our little bears
good people try
to save them
literally giving the shirt
off their backs

the koala hospital
manned by many volunteers
does its best

thousands are destroyed
in the bush fires
some deliberately lit

we walk alongside
dangerous destructive folk
not all of them look evil
but  i've noticed lately
a lot do

*shudder *



Midweek Motif -  Poets United

Poetic Gem For The Weekend

THERE ARE MEN TOO GENTLE TO LIVE AMONG WOLVES



There are men too gentle to live among wolves

Who prey upon them with IBM eyes

And sell their hearts and guts for martinis at noon.

 There are men too gentle for a savage world

Who dream instead of snow and children and Halloween




There are men too gentle to live among wolves

Who anoint them for burial with greedy claws

And murder them for a merchant’s profit and gain.

There are men too gentle for a corporate world

Who dream instead of candied apples and ferris wheels

And pause to hear the distant whistle of a train.



There are men too gentle to live among wolves

Who devour them with eager appetite and search

For other men to prey upon and suck their childhood dry.

There are men too gentle for an accountant’s world

Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass

And search for beauty in the mystery of the sky


.
There are men too gentle to live among wolves

Who toss them like a lost and wounded dove

Such gentle men are lonely in a merchant’s world,

Unless they have a gentle one to love.


– James Kavanaugh




where are they?
hiding i suspect
from accountants
from corporate conglomerates
from cougars with long lacquered red claws
from  the powerful mega rich  in  porsches

sometimes they peep out
from underneath their rocks
and find a night sky to wonder at

the lucky ones find
a gentle one to love
the other lucky ones
find books and write poems

Perspective

dangerous
is the warrior type
who boasts no fear
never sheds a tear
advances with ruthless strength
decimating all obstacles
with sheer determination
slash and burn
to achieve the goal

in admiration
we call it strength
in reality
i call it brutal





jungle law
has its draw backs
everyone needs to sleep
with one eye open


Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Winter

Cinquain

winter
best viewed on a
large flat screen tv set
sipping cool drinks and wearing a
sarong

Shadorma







cough and sneeze
fog on church windows
hymns and prayers
organ fugue
the vicar drones on and on
sunday in winter

Haiku 

the winter of life
sometimes arrives unexpectedly
always a surprise




Tanka

a warm smile
can thaw winter icicles
in a frozen heart
sadly little warmth or kindness
exists in this cold hard world


Midweek Motif - Poets United





 
 

My Country (I Love a Sunburnt Country) [lyrics] For The Weekend

Claudio Bravo


Sunburnt Country


hanging out with friends
after a hard day's yakka
her favourite thing

rain drops without roses
would be appreciated
it's drier than a dead dingo's donger

french washes and baths
measured in ice cream containers
oh the joy of country life

the wide brown land
is getting burnt to a crisp
and it's not yet summer







for  all those in nsw
whose dreams are going up in flames
stay strong - rain will come

Authenticity

scammmers know no bounds
everyone is a target
modern day corruption







forgers are clever
it's hard to tell authentic
experts not as smart





it looks real
it's even got fake blood
it tastes like meat
but what pc advocates
will never accept
is
this is not
this will never be
a real burger






an authentic christian
he is not
like  many of his kind
he's lost the plot
nothing is sacred
to this ignorant clown
the statue  of liberty
is leaving town






Midweek Motif  - Poets United

Poetry Tuesday

OLD - 5 November

age history evolution geology childhood rust nostalgia wisdom
whichever direction you want to take it


to live a life
to survive
is in itself
an achievement



“If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.”
― Mae West


god in his wisdom
decides our expiry date
in spite of our best made plans

it might be an idea
to confront  mortality
sooner rather than later
but who has the time

growing old
is a privilege
each day a bonus

Sunday Muse # 80

pussy cat pussy cat
where have you been

i've been to london
to see the queen

pussy cat pussy cat
what did you there

i dropped some acid
without any care

and now i find myself askance
bedraggled disembodied unravelled
in france

i went and took  the wrong train  home
oh where oh where is my mobile phone 

alone in this  room with diddums the cat
who refuses point blank to sit on the mat

i wonder what will happen to me
i wish i'd said no thanks just tea

Alison Krauss - Baby Now That I've Found You

Late Night Thoughts







i thought i had found you
but it was just a flash
of fool's gold


unreal unworkable impossible
and
ever so magnetically appealing
so much so
that it became all consuming
every waking hour
finding you spreadeagled
across my mind


when i hear a song
like this one late at night
in the dark
in the quiet
by the glow of the fire
i sometimes wonder
what we would have been like
together


i can only think
we would have been
ecstatically happy
but these thoughts
were mine alone

so

with heavy heart
i sink into the cushions
fall asleep
awake to the sounds of the city
of garbage bins and trucks outside
jump starting the grind of the day
and never think about you again
(until the next time )


written with thanks
for the one
who made me feel special
for a little while

Danse Macabre

the dead
summoned from their graves
party and dance all night long
in the morning they return
to wait another year



midweek motif - Poets United

Blue Sky Smiling At Me

artificial distances
will always be with us
the pecking order
has existed
since the stone age

money and power always rule
regardless of  the swapping of
controlling hands
anything that threatens the status quo
is eradicated on either side of politics
  
revolutions ultimately make little difference
they dilute themselves eventually
to revert to the same old regime values
again in a different guise
the oppressed taking on the role
of the conqueror without jackboots
under the " freedom for all " flag
meaning (people who think like us  )

our barbecues at the beach life style
confuses the issue
makes it even more sinister
and harder  for  folk to detect
fascism in the sunshine
under blue skies


"Key terms in metamodernism are dialogue, reconstruction, collaboration, interdisciplinary and transmedia work (collaborations across academic disciplines or creative genres/modes), inter- and hyper-textuality (the creation of new texts through the interaction of existing texts), generative paradox, generative ambiguity, simultaneity, engagement rather than exhibitionism, and, more broadly, the collapsing of artificial distances between concepts and people."

 Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

OctPoWrimo _ Days 27 - 31

Day 27






How did I get here?

my father used to say
at the end of world war 2
when he stumbled out of the jungle
my mother was the first woman
he clapped eyes on
he was joking ( i think )



Day 28

Mending the Broken Places

when your ego is battered and bruised
when you are past your expiry date 
tossed away like a sucked orange 
you need a kind loving person 
to mend your spirit
bring light back into your life
this is not always possible
so
get yourself a big squidgy ginger cat
write poetry  listen to music
cultivate a small herb pot garden
live  by the sea  swim with the fish
enjoy watching  the wonders of nature
at the beach



(the lifeguard is a very interesting species to observe)


Day 29

Lightness Of Being


not much lightness
in being these days
in fact
quite unbearably weighty with problems
still
believe it or not
there has never been a better time
in human history to be alive


Day 30

 Me or Who am I








i am solitary
a bit of a hermit

i am happiest swimming in the sea
or writing poems
i am out of step with the modern age
a dinosaur
an anachronism

in the grand scheme of things
my significance amounts to nought
i am but a mere grain of sand in a vast desert

but having said that
out of the 6 billion people on this planet
no one marinates olives better than i do



Day 31

Finding Peace


my grandfather used to say
the most important thing in life
is to be able to sleep soundly at night
with a clear conscience


he set that example
for all of us
a simple gentle soul
who fought in 2 world wars
and slept like a log


Thank you, Morgan Dragonwillow, Michelle Vecchitto, Esther Jones, and Maria L. Berg for hosting this month-long poetry challenge.

For The Weekend - Robert Glasper - So Beautiful (Live At Capitol Studios) (Official Video)

Forgiveness

be deaf
to the insults hurt and humiliation
ignore the betrayals
without thoughts of revenge

know this has  happened
to the best of us
the perpetrators are to be pitied

forgive if you think they deserve another chance
if not most importantly forget
forget they even exist
remove  them from your thoughts and life

inner peace is too precious a gift
to be compromised

Midweek Motif- Poets Inited

OctPoWrimo 2019 - Week 4

Day 21

Screaming into the wind





screaming into the wind
the sailing boats
carried our ancestors
in chains from afar

a recalcitrant lot
not deferential
irreverent
known for giving their betters
the aussie salute
the legacy still lingers










 Day 22

broken pieces






the japanese
fill the cracks with gold
to restore broken  bowls
kintsugi





the recyclists 
use discarded beer and wine bottles
to make beautiful windows
kashikoi


Day 23

Fur Babies 





an endless source of comfort
affection and squidgy cuddles
marmalade boy purrs loudly like a steam engine
sprawled out diagonally across the queen size bed
dreaming of fresh salmon and shrimp
oblivious to the fact that  lady bountiful
provider of his lavish sybaritic life style
panderer to his every whim
is unable to get into her own bed



Day 24


BREATHING


her passion was as important
as breathing to her
she spent years of hard work
dedicated to achieving her goal
thought of nothing else
it was at the forefront of her existence


the idea
of not continuing
of giving up her dream
was unthinkable
she came so close
to getting what she wanted

she faltered briefly
that's all it took
she lost everything
she didn't die
it just felt that way for a while
she still keeps on breathing




Day 25

White









Cinquain

snow white
has a wild side 
not all sweetness and light
hanging out with the 7 dwarves
bad move



Day 26

What has been unspoken







what has been unspoken
between us will remain so
it serves no purpose to speak now
after so long a silence
time to go our separate ways
time to let go

Bobby Caldwell - What You Won't Do For Love (Slayd5000)

Shadorma

friday night
best night of the week
thoughts of you
blissing out
on man's awesome legacy
jazz and all that jazz

Mini weekend challenge with Sherry Blue Sky
Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

Midweek Motif _ Poets United

This Is Just To Say

By William Carlos Williams

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

RESPONSE

this is just to say

i am making lobster mornay tonight

with a fresh green salad 

followed by

fresh fruit berry salad

with mango and passionfruit icream

forgive me

for not offering you any

it tastes delicious 

goes spiffingly with chilled champagne

and you're not getting any of that either

Sunday Muse # 77

this very latest
creative approach to discipline
(very popular in sweden }
gives a new meaning to ' time out ' 
replacing strict outdated methods
such as
sitting on the naughty step for ten minutes
or  no tv for an hour 

the odd passing pantechnicon
wild bears and wolves 
could prove to be a slight problem
but then  risk taking is part of the journey
confronting your demons is the way
to overcome them

besides there is plenty of fresh air
with  views to inspire a connection
to the environment and reflect on profound concepts
which is what we all know children love to do
if only they were not distracted by traditional subjects
like reading writng and arithmetic or
discipline of any kind

best of all on' time out'
you don't have to go to school
tolerate relics of a past age
boring teachers lecturing you
on
why you shouldn't take drugs
why you shouldn't bully others
why you shouldn't light wild fires in the  school holidays
or
why you shouldn't snatch handbags from old ladies in the mall

worst of all
there are too many  politically incorrect teachers
espousing oppressive fanatically religious based attitudes
such as
why you shouldn't  have sex before the age of ten
why you have to wait until high school before participating in
the very popular sex ed lesson of slipping the condoms over the banana
poor kids
all these restrictions
this haranguing just  goes on and on and on

with any luck in some enlightened country
traditional school subjects and school will be banned forever
and of course there will be research to show how much
happier well adjusted and better informed the kids will be
running free frolicking naked in the forest practising their sign language
because no one can read spell or write anymore
in the progressive institutions of la la land

OctPoWrimo 2019 - Week 3

Day 13

hugging a tree




An avenue of ancient trees destroyed
Anzac Parade Sydney Australia.



instead of skipping
round and round the mulberry bush
hug a tree instead
cos if we keep chopping the trees all down
we'll surely all be dead

so kindly heed this warning
politicians and developers out there
decimating the poor old trees
without a thought or care

money  and votes wont protect you
when your final day has come
burning in hell for eternity
means you're really just plain dumb



Day 14

Mother Earth






a mother earth personality type
she was not
she could create thunder and lightning
with a  single look

high drama was the genre
of the family theatre
each player deserving of
an academy award
(myself included)
we are alike in many ways

we clashed terrribly
mount vesuvius meets krakatoa
but her heart was in the right place
she did her best
she was a good person


Day 15





Mother May I

remind you that what you told me was untrue
i was not  delivered by the stork
and you did not find me in the cabbage patch
because i remember clearly being dropped into the marigolds
by a flock of doves



Day 16

Father Time





a thank you from
a grateful and loving son

what better way to spend
quality time with your dad
than in carnegie hall
performing together

an experience of a life time
for Lang Guo - ren
his beaming smile says it all

Lang Lang's father gave up his job as a policeman in a rural area to move to a city where Lang lang could study the piano and pursue his dream They lived in poverty for many years. His mother could not go with them because she had to  help support them in her present employment.They were separated for about seven years.

Day 17

Family




undoubtedly
the most difficult
decision to make
to cut that cord

she wouldn't do it

the destructive family member
who keeps deliberately punching holes
in the life raft
must be cast adrift
for the sake and survival of the others

she wouldn't do it

the result
a toxic miserable dysfunctional family
a nightmare - a living hell
and for what ?

he is in his forties now
she is still bailing him out of trouble





Day 18

My First Disappointment  





snooping  around
in nana's wonderland wardrobe
i saw the dress  - yellow and beautiful

on christmas day under the tree
it was wrapped in a box with a handwritten card
from santa
my little heart sank like a stone

i was seven - bingo the penny dropped
never let on for years
that i knew who was eating the cake
and drinking the port left out by the fireplace
on christmas  eve - it wasn't santa

Day 19

Purple




singapore orchids
purple my morning
the oranges all aglow
a spring greeting
after a long winter



Day 20

Mountains or Oceans






the miles tick over
on my old red clunker
alternating between
the bush and the sea
best of both worlds
the ancient plains
meet
the south pacific

one day
when i am unable to drive
long distances anymore
i will have to choose





my old red clunker (hand painted)