Last days of February : One Day at a Time 2 by Colleen Keating

 

” One cannot but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries
of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality.
It is enough if one tries to merely comprehend a little of this
mystery each day.
Never lose a holy curiosity.
– Albert Einstein

 

afternoon rain
dewdrops dazzle like
dangling fairy lights

rainbows
dew drops corralled
by sun beams

 

Tanka

morning Mozart plays
from a sleepy place I wake
with new energy
to face any curve ball
that is thrown my way

 

killing fields

the only sound aside from first wind rising
was the occasional brush of my footsteps
against soft cushion of earth
i looked out across the lake
the early dawn light
lay like a silver mirror
broken now and then
as several black cormorants
broke the surface and redived

in the far distance
the black swans grazed in sea grasses
and lone pelicans glided by
I watched the silver light of jumping fish
catch insects
then the pelican saw its opportunity
struck with violent grasp

grabbed the fish
its pouch beak
stretched and wriggling
while it shook its neck
and gulped the fish

I turned my attention to the paperbarks
and the symmetry
of the native miner’s wings
as it flies into a paperbark

and stand in shock
as it flew out
with the agonised death screech
of a cicada in its beak

is this place
that appears so tranquil
actually a killing field?

 

 

Merriment of  Frogs after the Rain

As the sun comes up
i walked towards the stand of swamp paperbarks
a sound like a freight train racing
through a country town
filled the air

closer it became more individual
like hearing each individual carriage clanking past
and then individual  rumbling croaks

yes the swamp was alive with frogs
all carousing and courting and
chatting
here was a living field
vibrant and alive

 

 

A Tree Kinship 

over the curve of my thoughts
comes a sound
amidst a stand of Paperbarks
they were not only breathing together
they were conversing

my heart wells up to bursting

every tree has such character
twisted and curved
not a straight line anywhere

all seem to be aware of each other
a tree kinship
each with unique characters

that breathe life  and meaning
and sanctity

the textured bark glistens with the
wash of the recent rain
in all the tones
of cream – coffee caramel tawny and wheat
desert  ochre copper  topaz and brown

 

 

 

A plaque on a seat at a lookout

How very lucky are we
to breathe salty air
and sit here by the sea

Last Days of February: one day at a time by Colleen Keating

Life as we know it
changed this past week
yet the nankeen kestrel
hovered above us
just as before

 

 

Each day is beautiful and precious
even amidst these cloudy times
some days of heavy metallic sky
some days of grey straggling fog
with the horizon lost

nature tells us
it will turn for it has many sides
a stretched-out horizon
wider then our dreams
is still there

Today the clouds give us
feathers and angels and flying kites
all uplifting  light and full of joy

 

so different to the metaphoric clouds
that hang thickly over us
pounding at our hearts
fogging our minds
suffogating our bodies

 

lapping waves
our footprints disappear
we do not look back

 

Our second day 

 


out walking
nothing has changed
trees still stand as mystics
their whisperings
pointing the way

Some signpost along the way

 

And from the Sensory Gardens Just now

Lunar New Moon and a Bird Walk by Colleen Keating

Lunar New Moon

Just before first light we rose
the lunar  moon
was due

we watched  we waited
the hearth of a new day
burst firing the waves

the lunar moon
travelled into its tiger destiny
invisible

not even a whisper
or scintella of light
but one with the air

lunar moon
we search the darkness
on the horizon

light  dawn  sunrise
for a wild water tiger
i was surprised
by its gentle silent entry
like a dew drop on a rose
or the tear drop of blood
from the pierce of a thorn

60 years for its return
1962 the year I left
the cocoon of school
for the world
2022 is it the year I bow out
and return
to the cocoon of my world
in nature

lunar new year
the morning glory
are full of welcome

association
paperbark and purple
morning glory

Bird walk today

Can you see the two cormorants hanging out by the lake in the photo?

just hanging out
they know we are here
two pied cormorants

and

two cormorants
hanging out by the lake
social distancing

 

How many kookaburras
makes a coven
waiting for their prey

 

 

 

Pondering this new year . . this Angophora answers by Colleen Keating

Angophora

i visit my special tree
a regular confidante
and ponder
what this new year may bring

rooted in place
sturdy stronger calmer
than i remember

it gazes upwards
out over the valley
as if it could see
far beyond our horizon

one thing changed
last visit its bark was pink
sleek inviting my hand
to run across its dimply skin

 

   

 

 

today its bark is splitting
letting go
peeling in strips and curls
burnished as an old rusty drum
exposing chartreuse rawness

i nod and thank
tree wisdom
for its perfect message

 

The magic colours of the trunk .

 

Totem

The Angophora Tree

Totems are a natural object or creature that is believed to have spiritual significance and can be adopted by particular groups as an emblem or symbol. This special tree like others before me who declared it the hugging tree is my special tree

The angophora tree is a special tree to the Darug people who are the Traditional Custodians of the area. The angophora is an ascension tree, a place where the spirits  go up and down from this earthly plane.

In pre-colonial days at the time of pregnancy, a woman would sit at the base of the tree and wait for the spirit of her child to enter her belly into her unborn child. At the other end of the life cycle, when someone passes, the body is wrapped in bark and placed in the large branches up the tree, to allow the spirit of the person to return to the heavens.

On a recent visit  I felt the spirit is still there.   There is a parallel world here in this Loreto forest .

I am writing my next poem on that at present.

 

(Angophora Costata   Sydney Red Gum or Smooth Bark Apple Gum)

A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s plant flowers! Welcome 2022 by Colleen Keating

New Years Eve

lets hope
the burst of colour and sound
scares off the old spirits
to welcome 2022

I think it will bring flowers
because I am planting them!

Welcome 2022

 

Dawn came with
chortle of magpies in the deodar
outside our bedroom window

morning greeted with
dawning light golden
atop the trees

the butcher birds shy ring
for them a greeting of another day
– for us a new year.

Our birds began arriving
doves  lorikeets  cockatoos
magpies and native minors.

 

It was a startling blue day.
An early walk as the heat was coming.
Coops Creek  forest was shady and cool.

Michael pointed out – a natural sculpture –
a very old uprooted tree
rains and winds over the years

washing it clean like bone.
Then we saw sculpures everywhere
This could be our very own Sculpture Park

with stunning shapes
albeit of nature alone.
Trees, upturned roots, caves, fallen rocks
and plants all lend themselves

from some bigger than us
to the fragile, small, sometimes
hidden things, one needs to tiptoe
quietly not to miss

 

 

 

 

 

(Angophora Costata   Sydney Red Gum or Smooth Bark Apple Gum)

A

 

 

 

 

Eucalypt Tanka Journal Issue 31 ed. Julie Thorndyke


Eucalypt Tanka Journal

 Issue 31

Amongst the bills, real estate adds, junk mail, other vague advertising letters
it was like a bright star in a dark sky to find the latest edition of Eucalypt Issue 31
beautifully edited and placement done with loving care by Julie Thorndyke. I dropped everything and the afternoon wiled away with a coffee enjoying the tanka and the world came wildly alive with my mind listening, observing, all senses stirred.

Eucalypt is the first Australian journal devoted to the ancient Japanese poetry genre
called tanka and I feel so proud to be included in Eucalypt Issue 31
with all the amazing Tanka writers.

I love my ladybug tanka. It is filled with colour, climate change,
endangered animals, picnis , sharing with grandchildren and nature

a ladybug

lands on our picnic blanket

blackdots on red

my grandson exclaims

I didn’t know they were real

My ladybug tanka speaks of climate change where our bugs and beetles
and especially the colourful Christmas beetles are disappearing.
Disappearance of vegetation, change in food chain etc the cause
. and how our children and our grandchildren are being deprived
of this natural beauty.

Secondly it speaks of sharing natures moments with the grandchildren
being out in the nature of the Blue Mountains lying on a picnic rug
and getting the opportunity of sharing  something which is becoming rare.

Thank you Julie Thorndyke for your dedication to writing, poetry, and tanka.

 

Class Act: The Wednesday Night Poets by Colleen Keating

 

Class Act

The Wednesday Night Poets

A first gathering after lockdown. We came together  in the very peaceful garden of Antonia and David  to launch our wonderful Anthology, Class Act .

Congratulations  to all the members of Norm’s Wednesday Night poets
for having their poetry published in our new anthology.  I feel very proud to have five of my best edited poems for 2021 published in Class Act

Our convenor Norm Neill launched the Anthology  and we all came together to celebrate. It felt  like a ticket of freedom as if something had been dropped from our shoulders talking freely, face to face once again. 

A big thank you to Antonia and David for their hospitality and for their hard work in  bringing this gem to fruition. 

An on-going thank you to Norm for his support and imput. Our group is a very supportive poetry editing group where we feel safe and affirmed in our sharing. 

To be and let be: seeking a way to negotiate with nature by Colleen Keating

Waitara Creek

when the sun broke through 

after the storm 

the grass plants   ferns and  palms 

here in the understory of the  bush

lit up like fairy lights 

and the dappled shadows

swayed gently

bringing the path alive

a whole different world 

to the moody  grey-green

mystery of just before

all the time

there was work going on 

frogs acrocking in the wet

whip birds were chatting 

and a few other birds high in the canopy

were exchanging news

how interesting it would be to interpret

many lizards and water dragons 

out sunning themselves 

popped away with a rustle

as I stepped quietly along

brusk turkeys  wander along

 

white butterflies flitted and feed

amongst the flowering weeds

bees were busy 

and the creek was gurgling

along in the background 

enjoying its fast bountiful flow

the track follows the Waitara Creek 

lined with second generation

 amazing patchy coachwood trees

then our of the valley

with its mystery and intrigue  

climbing out to the open woodlands 

where if you look up

 

you can see a crimson rosella

but also  the encroachment

of suburban sprawl  

high in the trees birds were  busy 

but the inevitable  had happened 

in the understory bush retreat

where i discovered the fairy wren before

the bush was gone

birds were silent

the inevitable planned  back-burn

necessary

for the fire risk

when the dry heat of summer sets in

has taken the bush retreat of the little birds

devastated i stand and ponder –

how can we find a way to be and let be?

Lockdown walk No. 20 Waiting for godwits by Colleen Keating

 

 

w

Waiting for godwits

Today we had a picnic near the broad walk

overlooking a sanctuary for water birds

we have been waiting for godwits 

the bar-tail godwits

with their long curved beaks to arrive

special visitors from the Arctic for their breeding 

the furtherest distance of  migration 

we wiled away time observing water birds

sea gulls  shear waters  egrets  spoonbills  pelicans

plovers their five chicks

learning to forage in the sea grasses 

many species of ducks

their ducklings  tucked away

some grazing on the wrack and sea grasses

some gazing  about peacefully 

and we too gazed peacefully

suddenly the plovers were seriously distressed

birds honked, quacked, squawked as they filled the air 

and i looked out to see a dog

wildly flying across the shallows

chasing the fleeing birds 

disturbing the wrack and sea grass

with its food of crustaceans and other insects 

it chased after any bird that landed again 

galloped like a horse backwards and forwards 

a man watched on 

the still mirrored lake was  shattered 

the sanctuary was ripped apart

splashed up

churned like a miniature tsunami 

finally the man whistled

got on his bike and the big brown dog

 sloshed out of the lake followed him

I stared at him leaving . I was distressed.

i was shattered like the lake

 broken like a vase into a thousand pieces 

so powerless  close to tears 

my mind   my whole being 

needed to be picked up 

gently mended  

my tutor of course to restore calm

the lake 

and  the birds