Halloween downunder

all consumers day
tawdry reductionist fright
spirit of plastic

Alone at last

upstairs a cafe
here on the steps at Somers
alone in the world

Gaga

sparse head of petals
delicate rebels survive
suggest peace possible

New Australian Dreaming

off leash park for babes
football played by old dogs
new dreamtime story

Aboriginal Dreamtime

Hidden in the background, a black Labrador dog playing with an Australian Rules Football as his ‘Master’ plays with an iPhone, and an elderly man wearing a pagri while sunning himself and a very young baby at the Roth Hetherington Botanical Reserve Keysborough Vic Au

Part II: Plat du jour

ballon de football
le chein mache at marque
bon garçon rover

No Sunday for Old Men

tax travel diary
dollars and k’s reconciled
driver running flat

I got a hurry-up from the taxman

Spring’s ‘going south’

seasons fall out
leaves deserting spring-time tree
wayward sympathies

In Australia, the phrase ‘going south’ implies that something is deteriorating. Elsewhere? I don’t know. But it’s a wintery mid-Spring in Melbourne.

Thinking of Eric

I wrote this verse (25/6/23) after my client Eric passed away. We’d talked about how he wished to slip gently away. It was called ‘You are there yet’ … and you are Eric.

I will seek you out
under the rubble of life’s demise
find you while you’re there

No. 5 of 6 tributes
Cliff note under pic

My secular interpretation of this image: a client reclaiming their dissolving self from the swirling confusion of physical and cognitive decline, even if it is faintly and momentarily.
If I can facilitate that by the way I do personal care,
I will.

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Vale Eric D: kind hearted boxer, singer, joker, family man;

decent man.

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Eventide

soft lit even' sky
pink tinged clouds float on green 
thoughts gently recede

A view from Samphire restaurant at Cape Schank

After digital retreat, surrender

‘The dark remains’ – done
kerouac sentences – dust
google take me home

Footnotes
1) ‘The dark remains’ is the title of a book by William McIlvainey and Ian Rankin. I was half way through it when I set it aside six months ago. I finished it on my digital retreat.
2) I’d set aside a sheath of Kerouac Haiku that I’d printed off months ago. I read them whilst ignoring your posts (almost entirely) and mine.
3) I used Google to navigate and stream music whilst away. I logged out of WP, was ruthless in the triage of email and only used a search engine a few times as an aide in discussions with my wife.

I enjoyed my digital retreat.

A view from our Cape Schank retreat window.

The Break Experiment

a digital break
need to leave those cells alone
recharge sanity

An experiment – can I ignore email, WP and the like for three days whilst we’re at Cape Schank?

The ruins of Springvale temple as seen from Dingley Hill.

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Garden path embroidery

we wind round such paths
as a sewing needle would
to beautify life

Garden embroidery at SBC