This will hurt me...

Early morning. Murray Street, Hobart. July 2013. I have set myself the task of writing five new poems in the next five days. If I'm impressed enough with my output, I might just publish them online. However, I am always on the lookout for themes and subjects. Keep an eye out for me please. Cruelly,Love , ee cummings cruelly,love walk the autumn long; the last flower in whose hair, they lips are cold with songs for which is first to wither,to pass? shallowness of sunlight falls,and cruelly, across the grass Comes the moon love,walk the autumn love,for the last flower in the hair withers; thy hair is acold with dreams, love thou art frail —walk the longness of autumn smile dustily to the people, for winter who crookedly care.

I don't walk this way any more. The corner of Davey and Murray Streets, Hobart. July 2013. We're off chasing Great White Sharks today. Fingers crossed that we all make it back in one piece! I, Too , Langston Hughes I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America.

Hobart in the Winter. 10 Murray as seen from the Waterfront. August 2013. Theme Thursday ? CHILLS? A hyperborean hope? Getting a gelid groove? It's Hobart in Winter. What do you think?

Here comes the sun. Sullivans Cove, Hobart. June 2013. Sunday Top Five ? Crabs, Beautiful Crabs! Mr Krabs Portunus pelagicus Scylla serrata Ranina ranina Pseudocarcinus gigas

Fog on the eastern shore. Sullivans Cove, Hobart. June 2013. More stealing from Sunday Stealing. This week, The Wish List Meme, part one 1.) What are 3 things on your Wish list and why? i) infinite berries; ii) an inability to feel cold; and, iii) a bit of peace and quiet. 2.) What do you miss about your childhood? The quiet. The time. The lack of responsibility. 3.) What do you do on your spare time on the weekends? Spare time on weekends? You mean between the cooking, cleaning, putting washing out, getting washing in and putting washing away? We usually go for a walk or a swim. 4.) What do you appreciate most in your life? Two healthy and happy little boys. 5.) Would you rather be rich or healthy? Can't I have both? If not, what's the point in cash if you're at death's door? 6.) If you could go back in time would you and why? To stay for good or just a visit? I wouldn't mind a visit every now and again. As a keen student of histo...

Rope. Sullivans Cove, Hobart. June 2013. Sunday Top Five ? Of course. Here, have my Top Five Records By Paul McCartney After He Left That Band That He Was In Before He Was In Wings! Maybe I'm Amazed , Paul McCartney Let Me Roll It , Paul McCartney & Wings Jet , Paul McCartney & Wings Mull of Kintyre , Wings Coming Up , Paul McCartney.

Alien landing? Elizabeth Street Pier, Hobart waterfront. June 2013. Sunday Stealing: The "What's Your Story" Meme 1. What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten in public? Probably a witchetty grub . 2. If you had to go on an adventure, with elves, dwarves, or hobbits, who would you take and why? A rogue band of brigand trolls. 3. You are at a rural retreat lodge somewhere deep in Wisconsin or Canada. You are approached by a taxidermist who hands you a stuffed badger and asks you to put it in your lap. What do you do next? Say, "Yeah, cheers for that." 4. If you were given biscotti, would you prefer it with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate? Awkwardly apologise for not eating it because of an allergy to almonds. 5. In your opinion, who is the funniest man or woman alive today At the moment? I like Louis C.K. and Stewart Lee. 6. If you were given thirty seconds on television to say something, what would it be? "Stop wasti...

The corner of Davey and Murray Street. Hobart CBD. April 2013. This list was inspired by a recent foray into learning more about the Münster Rebellion (and its subsequent suppression). Yes, today's Sunday Top Five records Five Of The More Unsavoury Episodes In Human History! The German Peasants' War (1524-5) : the rich slaughter the poor. A lot. Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia (1975-9) : a small elite faction slaughter the elite, the rich, the poor, and pretty much everyone in between. The 228 Massacre (1947): in which corrupt, wealthy interlopers kill everybody that they don't like. The Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries (1950-2): the self-appointed representatives of the poor kill the rich. And the middle classes. And the poor. The Great Purge : Stalin decides to kill everybody that he doesn't like the look off (and quite a few of his friends too).

Bushfire smoke. Elizabeth Street Pier, Hobart's waterfront. January 2013. Wordless Wednesday.

Look both ways. The intersection of Davey and Murray Streets, July 2012. More Q and A. More stolen from Sunday Stealing. This week, Our Players' Meme ... 1. You have been awarded the time off from work and an all-expenses paid week anywhere in the United States. The catch is that it must be somewhere you have not been before. Where do you choose to visit? Given that I have not been to the US at all, I have a whole continent to choose from. Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. 2. Name three of your guilty pleasures. I generally don’t feel guilt about pleasure. However, the recent healthy-living kick has seen me attach some to the wrong types of food. I also struggle with spending money on myself. 3. The best kind of Girl Scout Cookie is: Ummm, the normal ones? I like a nice plain biscuit. 4. What do you value most in other people? Honesty, integrity and half a brain. 5. Be honest. Do you sneak some raw cookie dough when you’re baking cookies? Not unless the reci...

Morning has broken. Sandy Bay, as seen from Battery Point. August 2012. Sunday Top Five? Okay, My Top Five NINE Ugliest Australian Football League Jumpers Off The Top Of My Head! West Coast Eagles 2000 Away. The 'Classic' Port Adelaide, circa 2000. Port 2007 Away. Adelaide 2011 Away. Brisbane Bears 1987 Original. Collingwood 1996/7 Pre-season (with muscle magpie). Hawthorn 1996 Pre-season abomination . Of course, the all-time WORST jumper is the one that goes by the moniker scared person's underpants , yes it is the 'classic' Hawthorn 1980s !

Winter. St David's Park, Hobart. July 2012. I better rush out today's Top Five before the Limpicks run out of time (they are still going on, aren't they?). Anyway, in no particular order, My Top Five Official Olympic Logos That Are All A Damn Sight Better Than The Incestuous Monstrosity This Year!

Elves under trees. St Davids Park, Hobart. July 2012. Grass , brother. GRASS . Uh-huh. That's right. GRASS , Carl Sandburg ILE the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo, Shovel them under and let me work-- I am the grass; I cover all. And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now? I am the grass. Let me work.

Barbed wire. Mayfair Plaza Car Park, Sandy Bay. August 2012. Wordless Wednesday.

Sunrise over Howrah. Seen from Sandy Bay. July 2012. A little late today, but bear with me, I have the flu and stuff to do this morning. Two books finished this week. First up is Bring Larks and Heroes by Australian author Thomas Keneally. I haven’t read a lot of Keneally ( Schindler’s Ark and Gossip in the Forest being the other two), and this book is a good reason to further chastise myself for that fact. It’s a ripper! Stylistically, it’s worlds apart from my assumption of his approach. It brings to mind a more accessible Patrick White, with a keen sense of tragedy without ever weighing down the who enterprise. In it Keneally probably helped kick of an entire re-interpretation of Australian history: that of our past as a penal colony. It’s a brutal but beautiful book. Rich in history and imagery, the tensions in those first few years of colonisation at the remote ends of the Earth resonate with tension. Men vastly outnumber women. The Irish – both convicts and those pres...

Morning over 10 Murray. Hobart Waterfront. May 2012. Wordless Wednesday.

Show caution, in the name of love... The corner of St Georges Terrace and Sandy Bay Road. May 2012. Wordless Wednesday.

Quite. The corner of King and Princes Streets, Sandy Bay. April 2012. Wordless Wednesday.

Michael Myers or Michael Stipe? Sandy Bay Road, the Sandy Bay/ Battery Point border. December 2011. The following poem is just about my favourite very short poem of all. Well, this one and Ezra Pound's The Temperaments . Now I want to know from anyone out there who actually reads poetry, what's your favourite very short poem? Their Sex Life , A.R. Ammons One failure on Top of another

Sacred Ground? St David's Cathedral, Macquarie Street, Hobart. December 2011. With the year rapidly coming to a close, I am currently sitting on 96 books read (not counting The first book - History in Practice by Ludmilla Jordanova - is a bit of a deviation from this year’s usual reading list, but I ran out of library books and resorted to digging in the cupboard for something to read. This is firmly in the ‘academic history’ camp, so will not be for everyone’s tastes. However, if you are a bit of a history buff you will surely find something worthwhile. Jordanova explores how the study of history has dramatically altered in recent decades. She does an able job at exploring what historians do, and in particular, why and how there have been such sweeping changes to the discipline. I’d happily recommend it to anyone with an interest in the topic. Second up today is Giovanni's Room , James Baldwin's second novel. Typically described as a “homosexual novel”, I think that the m...