A full spring equinox moon holds its perfection just for a moment and we clasp hands North and South equal day and night, equal sharing of light and dark in a beautiful albeit fickle world.
out the window
I look up at the spring moon
and looking down
think of my family
ten thousand miles away
and with war raging in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East spiralling out of control with no one power enough to stop tyrants of Netanhaou and Putin. as the calls of the International Community falls on the deaf ears of tyrants.
for the children
wherever their young eyes look
fear meets them
as fire flares from the heavens
as their earth is charred black
a Mariupol cry
‘they have turned our town
into a dead place’
On a personal level it has been a sad and heavy –laden week and I will share the grief of my week and my way through it all.
My dear friend Jan who lovingly and couragously married earlier this year, has let me know her husband, David has passed with his decision that the fight was becoming too hard and slowly over days letting go’.
My special friend and publisher of my books, someone who believed in poetry and writing and helped me get my words out into the world Stephen Matthews, choosing to take control through VAD and planning the day and time to “to go gently into that great light”.
My friend Decima falls and breaks her humerus and shoulder and is in rehab.
My close school friend Shannie, her BP goes wacko and she falls, fractures her pelvis and now in heart ward, A dear important person in my life suffering in marriage troubles.
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old age ~
its story fills me with grief
and fear
nature, poetry, music
bring back a feeling of youth
..
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Some of my redeeming beautiful experiences this past month
Our poetry appreciation U3A group. Michael and I prepared and presented a Margaret Atwood Appreciation morning.
White Pebbles Ginko Spring Walk
Ethel Turner 130th Celebration of the first publication of Seven Little Australians
Mahler 4th and selections from Strauss including Morgan Opus.27.No. 4 SSO ConcertConcert
“Of his friend, who was to outlive him by more than three decades, Mahler said: “Strauss and I tunnel from opposite sides of the mountain. One day we shall meet.”
.
Strauss beautiful song
Nature Walk in the Kalkari Reserve part of the Bobbin Head National Park where where Michael and I wondered :
What if the trees could talk!
‘ 
An hour of Classic Chinese Poetry put on by the Chines cultural
Centre
as part of the Nanping Tea Culture Week in Australia.
An hour of Classic Chinese Poetry put on by the Chines cultural
as part of the Nanping Tea Culture Week in Australia.
The MCA Contemporary Art Museum
The main exhibition i spent time with , was an installation called
‘Once Again . . .(Statues Never Dies)
It interested me because it looked at artifacts from Africa And spoke of the Colonial pilfering and made me reflect on my New Guineas story. I always see something that carches my eye and the sculpture below touched my heart.
In another exhibition I loved a shell sculpture made of the Sydney Opera House
Now this sculpture, Shellwork (Sydney Opera House) has extra meaning.
it is created by Esme Timbery and encrusted with thousands of shells. It is one of the largest shellworked models made by Esme. The subject The Opera House sits at Tubowgule/Bennelong Point is known as a location of great significence to Aboriginal people. Known as a place of important cultural gatherings for the local Gadigal people , the site was once occupied by a giant shell midden. Middens are mounds formed from the residues of communial life, and in coastal areas they include many shells, remnants of an abundant food source. The midden was a record of ongoing occupation going back thousands of years, the lost form now echoed in Timberlys sheeled model of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Building.
Celebrating the Life of Robert Gray with the launch of his new book Bright Crockery Days at the Sydney State Library.
This was organised by Mark Tredenik and many poets got up and read Robert’s poetry. Sadly Robert is no longer able to attend functions.
Botanical Garden amble
Concert with David Helkgott at the Avoca Theatre.
My friend offered us the tickets because she was unable to attend and so we drove up the coast after lunch shared with the Northerleigh group. It was an uplifting afternoon.
