This will hurt me...

Ship at rest in Winter, full moon behind clouds. Princes Wharf No. 1, Sullivans Cove. June 2013. Wordless Wednesday.

Grass lights. St David's Park, Hobart. June 2012. No matter how many times I try, and despite the fact that I am aware of the challenge of it, I always manage to spell the word 'buerocracy' 'beauruocracy' 'beareuocracy' 'bureaucracy' incorrectly. Spelling , Margaret Atwood My daughter plays on the floor with plastic letters, red, blue & hard yellow, learning how to spell, spelling, how to make spells. * I wonder how many women denied themselves daughters, closed themselves in rooms, drew the curtains so they could mainline words. * A child is not a poem, a poem is not a child. There is no either / or. However. * I return to the story of the woman caught in the war & in labour, her thighs tied together by the enemy so she could not give birth. Ancestress: the burning witch, her mouth covered by leather to strangle words. A word after a word after a word is power. * At the point where language fa...

Heading home. East Derwent Highway, Geilston Bay. June 2012. Wordless Wednesday. Nearly there. East Derwent Highway, Geilston Bay. June 2012.

Heading home. Elizabeth Street, as viewed from the pier. June 2011. Three books this week and the strike rate has not been pretty. First up is Finnish author Elina Hirvonen’s When I Forgot . The critical reaction seems to be very favourable, and I must admit that I’m struggling to see why. The story of damaged people and damaged families, and the harm that they inevitably do to each other; it utilises a fractured narrative to exemplify the ‘brokenness’ of the central characters. In this sense, this is not a subtle book. In broad brush strokes it ties together the idea of memory with the reality of unfortunate childhood(s), mental illness, relationship failures and even the linkage between personal and familial dysfunction and national identity and loss. I dunno, some described this book as "potent, fragile, and tender" but the words “ self-indulgent ,” “ overwrought ,” “ confusing ,” and “ narcissistic ” more readily come to mind. Not recommended. Speaking of na...

They only come out at night. Elizabeth Street Pier, looking Northwest towards the mountain. June 2011. The problem of memory. When we remember, what is it that we are remembering? Are we remembering it as it is (was), or are we remembering is as we would have liked it to be? Obviously we remember it as we remember it, which is not the same thing as it was (is). So is memory an act of reconstruction? When we reconstruct, we are bound to smooth out the edges, fix the loose seams a little bit. We reconstruct with the benefit/ deficit of hindsight. The 'in-between' bit - our experiences between the initial act, incident or occasion and our reconstruction - must inevitably influence the act of reconstruction. Hmmmm.

Shutter speed slowed right down, with a twirl. Elizabeth Street Pier, June 2011. City lights. Street lights. Road signs. Cars cars cars. I rarely get the chance to muck about with the camera, but like to have a fiddle every now and then. I like to imagine that this one is really some kind of intergalactic speedway featuring all manner of Martians, Venusians, Mercurians, Uranuses and heaven knows who else ripped to the gills on membrosia and overtaken by a lust for competition. As always, it would end in tears and no little bloodshed.

Night time is the right time for a burst water main in Geilston Bay. May, 2010. Man, I had written a whole LONG and CONVOLUTED post about today's list, and the damn computer ate it! God damn broken my heart. I'm just gonna list it and wipe the tears away and pass on typing it all up again. Bugger. Time for the Sunday Top Five . Music again! Today, we look at <b>My Top <s>Five</s> Ten FIFTEEN Opening Tracks To Albums That I Like Very Much!</b> Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone", Highway 61 Revisited Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On", What's Going On The Rolling Stones, "Rocks Off", Exile on Main Street Led Zepplin, "Immigrant Song", III R.E.M., "Feeling Gravitys Pull", Fables of the Reconstruction Wilco, "Can't Stand It", Summerteeth Sonic Youth, "Teenage Riot", Daydream Nation Sufjan Stevens, "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois"...

Night time down on Salamanca Lawns. No you are not drunk. Fairy lights + slow shutter speed * moving about = photograph. June 2010. It's nice to get things of your chest. It's nice to experiment. It's nice to swim against the current every once and a while. It's nice to relax and let yourself be . It's nice.

Bunkered in bureaucrats at 10 Murray on a chilly Autumn's evening. May, 2010. By and large, people annoy me. As do dogs. Cats can be annoying, but not crocodiles or Great White Sharks. Children annoy me at 2 am if they're screaming, but not if they're sleeping. Is it my fault or theirs?

The grand old dame™ at night. May 2010. Poor old 10 Murray. Every cold winter's evening she awaits her fate... Trendy open planned coffee shops and a wide screen television.

The Moon as seen in the evening from a backyard in Geilston Bay in March, 2010. Like Henry, I am somewhat infatuated by the moon. One day, I shall like to visit the moon. Unlike Henry and Ezra, I don't envisage getting there in some kind of modified carrot.

Night shots are always something of an experiment for me, so why not go the whole hog and mess about with fiddling to the max? We had an election here in Tasmania yesterday, and the result went as expected (if not as I would have liked). However, the candidate we we're endorsing with a sign got in, continuing my stroke of good results! Well done Mr. O'Byrne. Today's Sunday Top Five? At a push, my Top Five Pollies Whose Signs Have Been Out The Front Of My Joint Over The Years ! Michael Field : A perennial sign in the State scene. We managed to get him up as premier at one point (all because of that sign out front, I'd wager). Greg Peart : the mid-to-late 1980s were not great for the ALP in Braddon. The lack of success in unseating the infinately mediocre Chris Miles should prove that. Sid Sidebottom : a few goes in various elections. A solid, if somewhat uninspiring plodder. Graeme Sturges : got him over the line a couple of elections ago. He's struggled once we'...