Thursday, January 07, 2010
I know beginnings, I know endings too, and life-in-death, and something else I'd rather not recall just now.
Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.
A couple of buoys, waiting for some girls, down in Sullivan's Cove. There are boats everywhere in Hobart at them moment.
Sameness, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Over all hilltops
is peace
in all the treetops
you feel
barely a breeze;
The birds in the forest have
stopped their song
Wait, before long
you too will be still.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
If a thing loves, it is infinite.
If Jen, Henry and Ezra ever started a three piece post-punk combo - Jen drums, Ezra bass/vocals, Henry guitar/vocals - I'd use this photo for on the inner sleeve.
Two questions remain though, what do I call the band? And, what is the album called?
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
Ezra spied these little fellows paddling around the pond at the Botanical Gardens here in Hobart. They're ducks, by the way, not tigers.
Today's poem?
The Duck, by Ogden Nash
Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms ups.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
An artist is like a woman who can do nothing but love, and who succumbs to every stray male jackass.
Henry received a guitar for Christmas. He fancies himself as a balladeer in the vein of a John B. Sebastian or Richie Havens, but he sounds more like an incredibly drunk Bob Dylan.
I see big things on his horizon.
Failure is never quite so frightening as regret.
The Tasman Bridge is a five-lane bridge crossing the Derwent River, near the CBD of Hobart, Tasmania. It connects us on the Eastern Shore - the best shore, not just because of Henry and Ezra, but also the location of the Hobart International Airport, the Geilston Bay Community Centre, as well as the home of the 2006/7 Sheffield Shield winners the Tasmanian Tigers (Bellerive Oval) - with the dregs on the other side. The bridge itself if 1,395 metres long, and has a pedestrian foot way on each side for those willing to risk the winds.
Today's poem? Australian Kenneth Slessor's Beach Burial
Softly and humbly to the Gulf of Arabs
The convoys of dead sailors come;
At night they sway and wander in the waters far under,
But morning rolls them in the foam.
Between the sob and clubbing of the gunfire
Someone, it seems, has time for this,
To pluck them from the shallows and bury them in burrows
And tread the sand upon their nakedness;
And each cross, the driven stake of tidewood,
Bears the last signature of men,
Written with such perplexity, with such bewildered pity,
The words choke as they begin -
'Unknown seaman' - the ghostly pencil
Wavers and fades, the purple drips,
The breath of wet season has washed their inscriptions
As blue as drowned men's lips,
Dead seamen, gone in search of the same landfall,
Whether as enemies they fought,
Or fought with us, or neither; the sand joins them together,
Enlisted on the other front.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.
Ez and I headed down the the Botanical Gardens the other day to re-enact that scene from The Sound of Music where Julie Andrews runs down the hill spinning before
Thus I have two images for the price of one. Above, I've gone for the full CinemaScope vibe, with a fair bit of post-production work. Below is the more straightforward shot. The question I ask is, which do you like?
Remember: Y'all is singular. All y'all is plural. All y'all's is plural possessive.
Seagulls, council buildings, museum roofs, flags, it's all happening here!
Today the gang and I are headed up to the loveliest coast of Tasmania - the North West Coast - for some well earned rest [HAH!]. As Internet access will be uneven, if at all, I'm programming the robot again to take care of the posting while we're on the road.
I've instructed him to scan the archives and post some of my favourite poems each morning. Consider this week my very own Poetry Festival. Feel free to share your picks if you think I'm backing duds.
First up?
i like my body when it is with your, e.e. cummings
i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones, and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh… And eyes big love-crumbs,
and possibly i like the thrill
of under me you so quite new
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.
Nothing says "Parliament lawns" more than jumping castle. Here you can see Henry and Ezra, plus some other kid who literally stood bolt upright and perfectly still for five minutes.
Perhaps he was in awe of the
A happy childhood is the worst possible preparation for life.
Here's a felt sandwich that Jen made the boys for Christmas. The choices are limited, but if you'd like some mix of ham, Jarlsberg cheese, tomato, lettuce and beetroot on white bread, and don't mind not being able to eat it; this sandwich is for you!
Which brings me to today's Sunday Top Five: My Top Five Sandwich Fillings!
1) Cheese: I'm a cheese man: Double Gloucester; Wensleydale; Gouda; Cheshire; Provolone; Edam; Limberger; Lancashire; Mozzarella; Havarti; Mascarpone; Gołka; Camembert; Tilsit; Gruyère; Brie; Fetta; Gorgonzola; Red Windsor; Red Leicester; Quark; Chèvre; Ricotta on and on and on it goes. Today however, I can't go past a nice mature smoked Cheddar!
2) Salami: Like cheese, the varieties are endless. I can't look past a spicy Hungarian though...
3) Tomato: fresh from the garden!
4) Lettuce: a crisp and fresh cos will do.
5) Beetroot: you know what they say...
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.
Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought.
The water taxi chugs its way across the Derwent
One can only hope!
Friday, January 01, 2010
There are two kinds of egotists: Those who admit it, and the rest of us.
A small boy who thinks that he's a big boy sitting on park bench in Cornelian Bay. Note the seagull on the upper left, the Tasman Bridge in the centre right, as well as the boatsheds on the right. The boatsheds burned down the day after this photo was taken, and no, I don't let Henry play with matches.
Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience.
These fish have undoubtedly seen better days. The orange fellow in particular seems surprised at his predicament. Henry and I took this snap at the fish mongers at Mures Lower Deck.
There is a cruel beauty in the fact that I live in a place that has the world's greatest seafood, and I'm not much of a fan of fish. That said, a nice bit of squid, octopus and the odd John Dorey, and I'll be right!
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- 100 Places That Made Britain, Dave Musgrove (ed.)
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- The Ox-Bow Incident, Walter Van Tilburg Clark
- Ben, in the World, Doris Lessing
- The Grass is Singing, Doris Lessing
- Women As Lovers, Elfriede Jelinek
- Absolute Beginners, Colin MacInnes
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- Moon Tiger, Penolope Lively
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