not a great idea
to moon howl
at halloween
unless you want to end up
as a hot dog next to the hamburgers
witches don't take kindly
to sexual harrassment
witches have feelings too
what with american kids
being taken off the menu
because of high cholesterol and sugar
life has become difficult
diogenese carried a lamp day and night
in search of an honest man
he wandered from place to place
until someone stole his lamp
oh well in that regard
nothing much has changed
in a few thousand years
brthday easter and christmas treats
loved the squeaky clean children
with their picnic baskets
black patent leather shoes
and pretty frocks
having adventures
building sandcastles
exploring rock pools
fish and chips
sun tanlong lazy beach days
a lot of fun
making dolls houses out of shoe boxes
see sawing on a wooden plank
lots and lots of jigsaw puzzles
and comics for rainy days
Samhain - The Irish New Year. by Bridget Haggerty Following the revels of Hallowe’en, the ancient Irish celebrated the festival of the dead - Samhain, which is pronounced sow-en, and is usually translated as “summer’s end.” In Celtic lore, the year is divided into two halves associated with the dark and the light. The dark half begins at ' sunset on November 1st with Samhain and the cycle ends when the light half begins at sunset on May 1st, which is the' festival of Bealtaine. Both festivals are closely linked, but in general, Samhain is considered to be the most ' important. In the old days, extensive preparations were made for the sharing of a communal feast that included the dearly departed as guests of honor. To enable them to come and go freely, all doors and windows were left unlatched; a special cake was made exclusively for their consumption, and a certain amount of other food was set aside just for them. This had to be left untouched by any mortal hand for the duration of the ritual period. Eating the food of the dead was considered to be a major sacrilege and it condemned the perpetrator to becoming a hungry spirit after death, forever banned from sharing in the Samhain feast. Beyond the great feast, the dead would also need to be entertained. Customs vary from one Celtic nation to another, but in general, while the young people played games associated with the rituals of Samhain, the elders reviewed all of the events of the past year for the benefit of those who had passed on. This was believed to encourage the dead to continue to take an interest in the affairs of the living. As at all turning points in the Celtic year, ancient lore tells us that the Gods draw near to earth at Samhain. In ancient Ireland, people extinguished their hearth fires and then gathered at the ritual center of their tribe to honor the gods with gifts and sacrifices. There, they waited for the Druids to light the new fire of the year. Then, personal prayers in the form of objects symbolizing the wishes of supplicants were cast into the blaze. At the end of the ceremonies, each member of the tribe took back to his or her home hearth a brand ignited from the new fire. Samhain fires have continued to light up the countryside down the centuries. In some areas, ashes from these bonfires were sprinkled on surrounding fields as a form of protection. The added bonus, of course, was that the ashes improved the soil. So how did Samhain become All Saints Day? As with many of the old festivals, Christianity stepped in to do whatever it could to eliminate pagan rituals. In this case, it was Pope Boniface who took the festival of the dead and made it the festival of all saints and martyrs. Originally it took place on May 13th, but a century later, Pope Gregory III shifted it to November. In Ireland, All Saints Day was instituted in 998 AD by Abbot Odilo of Cluny and by the 13th century, although many of the old Samhain rituals persisted as folk customs, November 1st had become firmly established as a Christian festival.
ancient rituals
the dead visit their relatives
expect to be entertained and fed
don't eat their cake
they moved forward
leaving war torn europe
to a land of no olive oil
no wine
no garlic
no family
no one
it was safe with good weather
no bosch hiding in the bushes
fresh air space and beautiful beaches
like being on holidays
you did not have to be wealthy
to live near the sea back then
memories
of two sweet people
with their rimless specs
hunched over a newspaper
struggling
teaching themselves english
they would not have passed the
current citizenship test
(i don't think I would pass it even now
would fail the sports section :)
and our family would not be here
so eventually we all came along
generation after generation
little aussies in the making
wearing akubras and r m williams boots
rejecting the old music and ways
not realising at the time that
even with our blue eyes
fair skin and blonde hair
(no one ever called us wogs)
we will always
be different
feel different
think different
our forefathers
never leave us
they whisper in our ears
sing lovely corny french songs to us
forever
Weekly Scribblings # 92 PSU
Earthweal Open Link Weekend # 89
the great barrier reef
one of the seven
natural wonders of the world
eye watering beauty
polluted by run off
coral bleached by global warming
invaded by the crown of thorns starfish
dying
too late to save it
too late
too late
between the powder puffs and the perfume bottles
i remember trying it on and sneaking a squirt of your scent
you said you got it in china
you were 17 travelling the world as a nanny
for a wealthy family on a boat
it hasn't left my arm since you departed
i also inherited your hands
every time i look at them i see yours
i miss you
Cento- -from the poems of Mary Oliver and Dorianne Laux
FOR EARTHWEAL..... The Nature of Enchantment
all summer
weeds and blossoms shimmering
rose and fell back
replete and beautiful
and i touching the blue and silky air
listen with happiness
i think there is no other prize
only gleaming rapture
you love someone
dark
electric sweet open wild
seeking each other out
then they meet and swoon
sometimes the air
comes undone
over our heads
and washes down around our ears
like rain
it has to be love
THE RAPTURE
Mary Oliver
All summer
I wandered the fields
that were thickening
every morning,
every rainfall,
with weeds and blossoms,
with the long loops
of the shimmering, and the extravagant—
pale as flames as they rose and fell back,
replete and beautiful—
that was all there was—
and I too
once or twice, at least,
felt myself rising,
my boots
touching suddenly the tops of the weeds,
the blue and silky air—
listen,
passion did it,
addled me,
stripped me clean
then covered me with the cloth of happiness—
I think
there is no other prize,
only rapture the gleaming
rapture the illogical the weightless—
whether it be for the perfect shapeliness
of something you love—
like an old German song—
or of someone—
or the dark floss of the earth itself,
heavy and electric,
At the edge of sweet sanity open
such wild, blind wings.
THE ORGAMS OF ORGANISMS
Dorianne Laux
Above the lawn the wild beetles mate antennae lifted and trembling, tiny legs
scuttling, then the infinitesimal
ah’s of their meeting, the awkward job
of their turnings around. O end to end
they meet again and swoon as only bugs can.
This is why, sometimes, the grass feels electric
under our feet, each blade quivering, and why
the air comes undone over our heads
and washes down around our ears like rain.
But it has to be spring, and you have to be
in love — acutely, painfully, achingly in love —
to hear the black-robed choir of their sighs.
from Smoke (2000)
the enchantment of nature
a big bunch of flowers
the weekend is almost over
the lilies opened up today
they will last and
pinken life for another week
why is miss mouse happy
in her teapot house
because of the season
"But it has to be spring, and you have to be
in love — acutely, painfully, achingly in love —"
Dorianne Laux ( Smoke 2000 )
focus
on the chess moves
eyes on the chess pieces
yes i know he's cute
yes i know spring fever abounds
lads are courting
lambs are sporting
but you need to
focus
win this match
\
“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.” ~ Eleonora Duse
a beautiful month in both hemispheres
growing up all my books were british
beatrix potter (jemima puddleduck and mrs tiggywinkle)
enid blyton (with girls called hilary and arabella)
jane eyre and keats
horses called dobbin
so inevitably
i left the springtime for autumn
it was wonderful for a while
until
i began to miss too many things
the blue
the beach
the ferries
the harbour
the vast space
lamingtons
so
i returned to the great southern land
in the springtime
october
the month of my birth
a while ago now
and stayed...forever
a still life
of mango watermelon
grapes and a vase of poppies
greets me at breakfast
the sight and smells
of spring
today
all my bright red mats
have dried in the warm breeze
dotted throughout the palms
on the balcony
today
the sail boats
glide like swans speeding
across the horizon
a pod of dolphins
puts on a display
showing off again
today
feels good
today
is not a day
to watch the news
today is a day of joy
remembering you
playing my lady hunsdon's puffe
all those years ago
listening to this
i will always be sixteen
it will always be saturday afternoon
in the music room
french doors open
on to a verandah
a gentle sea breeze blowing to
the distant thwack of tennis balls
from the court
on a summers day
at school
into a mirror for years
terrified of what
she might see
the other day
she approached a complete stranger
at the check out
excuse me...am i beautiful?
.no.... he said
