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Seascape

Posted in Art, Art as the Spark, nature, Poetry, Writing, tagged ArtAsTheSpark, FrancesMacaulayForde, LindaIbbotson, POEM:Ebb&Flow, poems, SeaPoem on October 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Saw this painting on Facebook by Linda Ibbotson and was inspired.

Ebb and Flow

Emotion clash

Blood pumps

Heart bursts

Power jars

Merging still

Pulled apart

Ebb and flow

Jealousy bite

Clash churns

Fusion of fear

Feeling cold

Losing faith

Sunset heat

Passions pale

Discard love

Piercing pain

Clutch and stab

Empty hands

#FrancesMacaulayForde #LindaIbbotson #ArtAsTheSpark #SeaPoem

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POEM:Tiyende Pamodzi…

Posted in Africa, Animals, COMMUNITY, Music, nature, Poetry, Sound, Writers, Writing, tagged Africa, FrancesMacaulayForde, Freedom, Independence, NorthernRhodesia, poems, TiyendePamodzi, Zambia, Zambia50th on October 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

“Buy experience, not things.”

Today, Zambia is celebrating 50 years of independence – 24th October 2014 and I can’t help singing to myself – her 1st President Kenneth Kaunda’s signature song: Tiyende Pamodzi : “Let’s go together in harmony.”

I’m still torn between my idyllic childhood in the center of Africa, Northern Rhodesia now Zambia and Perth, Western Australia where I’ve been ever since leaving ‘home’.

Mana Pools, Zambezi River.

They say, once you’ve crossed the mighty Zambezi River you’ll always return. I haven’t yet. I keep in ‘touch’ though, with many friends who have or who also miss ‘home’ and enjoy sharing wonderful memories.

2014 © Heather Chalcraft

Lowdown Magazine is written by Heather Chalcraft who takes amazing photos of Zambia now. This is the Flamboyant or Flame Tree, the sight of which takes me back to Kitwe and Lusaka as quickly as Jacarandas do.

In fact, my man and I reunited on the Great North Road website after 28 years and have been married for 10, so I owe Zambia a great debt for a wonderful childhood, fantastic memories and now, my happiness.

Tiyende Pamodzi…

Your 50 Zambian years means I am 50 years older.

I was at school when you became independent

but your Independence triggered my own at 14.

Not wanting to repeat a year I had just finished,

I refused and found myself a job, instead. My

idyllic childhood safe in Mother Africa’s arms

meant we learnt young to be strong, resilient

finding our own way through the jungle. Confident,

courageous and convinced of our immortality.

I blossomed in your sunshine and freedoms.

As pioneers we knew we could turn our hands

to whatever was required to get the job done.

And we did. During the struggles, shortages

were a given but ever resourceful we shared,

surviving together. The best lesson for life.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #Zambia50th #POEM:Tiyende Pamodzi #Africa #Zambia #NorthernRhodesia #Poems #Independence #Freedom

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Desertification

Posted in Books, Favorite Writers, nature, Perth City, Poetry, WA Writers, Writers, Writing, tagged Australia, DennisHaskell, Desertification, Environment, FrancesMacaulayForde, GlenPhillips, JohnKinsella, poems, poets on October 7, 2014| 1 Comment »

ACT 1: This poem “Desertification” 1st appeared in the 2007 anthology of Fellowship of Australian Writers WA “Lines in the Sand”, on page 28.

ACT 2: Also that year, I was flattered to be asked to read it at the launch of John Kinsella‘s “Shades of the Sublime and Beautiful” published in 2008 by Fremantle Press, together with Dennis Haskell and Glen Phillips, in the University of WA bookshop. There was a video taken that night but I can’t get it to upload here…

ACT 3: This poem inspired a young poet Marlia Douglas to write her own poem with the same title. I found all this out when Marlia turned up at one of my Poets Corner events.

She just happened to be in the State Library when it was on, and poked her head in to listen. As host I was constantly looking out for new poets and convinced her to read in the Open Mic section.

Marlia said her poem had been inspired by Frances Macaulay Forde’s poem of the same name and didn’t even realize I had just introduced her to the audience. They were mostly regulars and applauded loudly when they heard her comment knowing she didn’t know who I was.

Her version of the poem later appeared in INDIGO JOURNAL Vol3 (2010) which also included another of my poems “My Life as a Sari”.

ACT 4: This is a recording of the poem I did a few years ago.

desertification

before cultivation the water flowed

bouncing on leaves falling falling

to pool on fertile forest floor below

before cultivation the water flowed

flora bursting with life and clean air

jostling for sunspace canopy flirting

before cultivation the water flowed

we didn’t listen as we ploughed

clearing tree roots to feed fields

before cultivation the water flowed

now encrusted salt lusts after land

no sweetness here just bitter dry sand

#FrancesMacaulayForde #Desertification #Poems #Environment #Australia #John Kinsella #Glen Phillips #Dennis Haskell #poets

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Left Field

Posted in Ireland, nature, Poetry, Sketching In Ireland, Writers, Writing, tagged FrancesMacaulayForde, Hurley, Ireland, POEM:LeftField, poems, Waterford on October 7, 2014| 1 Comment »

Left Field

Lined up like the Waterford cows,

metal bodies glitter in an Irish field.

Their black rubber circles squelch

acres of reconstituted bovine cud.

A Friesian audience has gathered

to ruminate on two-legged animals

with red and white coats, running

and hurling a stone to each other

between showers, near Carol’s Cross.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #LeftField #Hurley #Ireland #Waterford #poems

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Newness…

Posted in Animals, Ireland, nature, Perth City, Poetry, Sketching In Ireland, Writing, tagged CorkLough, FrancesMacaulayForde, HydePark, PerthDailyPhoto, Swans on September 29, 2014| 3 Comments »

Newness of things:

the greenness – the blueness – the

colours of Spring.

Hyde Park is showing it’s best leafy coat thanks to our recent rains. My sister in law Grace, took some inspiring photos for her blog (above) on Saturday in one of two beautiful parks found within our city environs.

Thanks to Perth planners all those years ago, we can wander down paths next to bubbling water aerated by fountains, reminding me of wandering next to the Lough in Cork City.

Although we have mainly Black Swans here, I enjoyed seeing many white swans and other water birds, there.

Like ballerinas,

swans float above their

watery stage.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #Swans #CorkLough #HydePark #PerthDailyPhoto

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“Woman of Flowers”

Posted in Books, MOVIES, nature, Scripts, Writing, tagged AdaptationToScreen, AdaptingBooks, books, FrancesMacaulayForde, GeorgianaMolloy, WAPioneers, WAWildflowers, WomanOfFlowers on September 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Quite a few years ago now, I was sent Libby Hathorn‘s book ‘Woman of Flowers’ to consider for adaptation to screen by the publishers Hachette Australia.

Georgiana Molloy moved to Western Australia with her new husband in 1829. WA was very different to the gentile English countryside and Georgiana had a lot of trouble settling in. The eminent botanist James Mangles asked Georgiana to collect specimens for his research. A new world opened up for her and she thrived, loving the native plants and documenting them carefully. Her samples were packed with such care, Mangles sent them on to colleagues who actually managed to grow and study new species from the meticulously packed seeds.

Meticulously researched, Libby’s book provided both a factual and fictional view which I loved after reading it as a subject for adaptation.

I thought it would make a good TV Series but discovered that a local company was busy doing a lot of research on the same subject, seemed well advanced with plans to do something similar, so I judged it not the right time.

6 years on, others have since documented Georgiana’s wonderful achievements over the years, particularly the ABC National Radio but nothing like I envisaged.

As I’ve said, I’d love to give her a new life – a dramatic screen life.

So any producers out there – maybe now is the right time!

#FrancesMacaulayForde #LibbyHathorn #GeorgianaMolloy #WomanOfFlowers #WAWildflowers #WAPioneers #Books #AdaptationToScreen #AdaptingBooks

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“Two Shakes of a Dead Lamb’s Tail”

Posted in Animals, Books, Favorite Writers, nature, WA Writers, Writers, Writing, tagged Frances Macaulay Forde, Noreen Reeves, Two Shakes of a Dead Lamb's Tail on September 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

While peddling our wares at The Pines Markets at Curtin University yesterday, a new marketeer Noreen Reeves was selling her autobiography.

As writers, we chatted and naturally, I bought a copy of “Two Shakes of a Dead Lamb’s Tail” available on Amazon as a Kindle, Hardback or Paperback.

(The book is available from the printer although vastly over-priced! As ‘they’ are NOT on my list of recommendations, I certainly won’t.)

Noreen and I discovered we’re almost neighbors, both living off Ocean Reef Road. We weren’t busy due to the rain and wind so I had time to glance sporadically, up to the third chapter, between serving customers.

So far I’ve read; Noreen is about to have her second baby with a toddler who disappears into the jungle but finds his way safely to his father’s school, Tinputz Vocational Centre. Life certainly isn’t routine for her young family in what seems to be the middle of no-where. Isolated, disorientated and victims of the oppressive heat and prolific wildlife seemingly with no respite and no regular food supply…

“Familiarity began to settle us into a routine. The fly-wire installation was completed, which made life more comfortable. The fockez (flying foxes) could no longer slalom through the windows; however it didn’t deter the geckoes for long. They were beautiful little creatures and it was sometimes a night’s entertainment watching them chase each other around the walls. It was however, anathema not to have a plethora of bugs flying and crawling all around us when the lights were lit. “

The book reminds me of my own Colonial upbringing in Central Africa. Noreen ‘grows up’ in Bougainville Island, pre-independence New Guinea, then shares her life on the farm near Gippsland Lakes in Victoria and a sheep station in outback WA.

It’s Noreen’s 1st book – can’t help but feel this is only the beginning…

#FrancesMacaulayForde #NoreenReeves #TwoShakesOfALDeadLamb’sTail #Autobiography #WAWriters #Author #Writer #AmazonBooks #BougainvilleIsland #NewGuinea #GippslandLakes #VictoriaAU #SheepStation #OutbackWA

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Reading: ‘Crannog 36 ~ Summer’

Posted in Books, Favorite Writers, Ireland, nature, Poetry, Short Stories, Writers, Writing, tagged Crannog, Crannog -36 Summer, Frances Macaulay Forde, Irish Magazine, Maggie Breen, Other Things I Didn't Tell you, poetry, short stories on September 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This is an example of why I look forward to receiving my copy of the latest Crannog Magazine. I also submit short stories and poetry, hoping one day to find a piece of my own nestled between the gems I enjoy in each issue.

It’s inspiring to discover new (to me) writers. I am now a fan of Maggie Breen and will have to add “Other Things I Didn’t Tell” to my wish list

#FrancesMacaulayForde #Crannog36 #IrishMagazine #Poretry #ShortStories #MaggieBreen #OtherThingsIDidntTell

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Spring has Sprung!

Posted in nature, Perth City, Poetry, Writing, tagged Frances Macaulay Forde, Kings Park Perth, Perth City, Perth WA, spring, Spring Poems on August 31, 2014| 2 Comments »

Perth Daily Blog: “Seduced by the Yellow”

This week, we paid our bills by selling our wares at the 50th Dowerin Field Day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

A small country town with a normal population of 352, Dowerin explodes with the event, attracting about 20,000 people from all around the South West and maybe further.

Held in the middle of nowhere – actually on the edge of the Australian Wheatbelt, farmers flock there to check out the latest equipment.

Some fly their planes in, those in the know stay on farms which suddenly transform into B & B’s while others (like us), drive the 150 km there and another 150 km back on small country roads, each of the three days.

The planes are no surprise given that many farms are the size of small European Countries!

My sister-in-law also took the trip (not by plane but enjoyed our Winter countryside) and did a wonderful job of covering the event on her Perth Daily Blog.

Here in Western Australia, tomorrow is officially the first day of our Spring – also the beginning of the Kings Park Spring Festival.

As the article says, when I first arrived I made a bee-line for the beautiful park overlooking Perth City and the gorgeous Swan River, but it looked very different then and I can’t find the photos… so I’ll share a poem instead. 🙂

Sun kissed

Like a cobra,

I am coiled

ready to strike

any who dare

limit my growth.

Germinating new

species hidden

deep in the earth

waiting to bloom

colored with sun.

Tension-ed taut,