1972 – Kitwe, Zambia.

This list has been published on here before on World Poetry Day in 2015 but if you feel so inclined why not click on the titles – they are worth reading. 

Unfortunately I’m unable to link No 7 because I can’t find it anywhere on the net, nor can I obtain permission to print Harry Farrrell’s wonderful words here.  Seems such a shame.  I discovered him in the early 70’s while working in Zambia. 

1. “Don’t make me fall in love again…” by Nan Witcomb © 1979, from ‘Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, The Thoughts of Nanushka, Vol I – VI’.  I discovered Nan in the early  80’s when I needed to find solace in words and simply beautiful illustrations.  Soaked with romance, this poem resonated – seemed to speak from my own heart.
2. “The Dolly on the Dustcart”  by Pam Ayres © I’ve loved this poem since I first read it, even before I watched her perform it at the Perth Concert Hall in the early 90’s.  It was hard to choose just one of her poems (I have a few of her books) this one makes me smile with its many layers.
3. “Fascination Waltz” by T.A.G. Hungerford © 2005 p. 223, ‘Whatever Happened to Joseph’, 1st pub by Jacobyte Books.  Tom most graciously allowed me to spend an afternoon with him, talking about his writing while a full Pages Cafe/Poets Corneraudience listened to him reading his wonderful words.  He told us about this being his wife’s favourite, so Kevin Gillam kindly played the song on his double bass for Tom – I know he was touched.
4. “Honey” by Gerry Murphy © 2002  P. 14, ‘Torso of an Ex-Girlfriend’, Dedalus Press.  I met Gerry whilst attending workshops at Munster Literature Centre in Cork, Ireland and instantly connected with his searingly honest, concise poetry.  No fluff. 🙂
5. “As Autumn Leaves”  by Bee © 2014 on ABC Tales.  Such a close examination of feelings and beauty – micro writing, which like many well-woven words, has stayed with me.
6. “Making Tracks” by Gregory O’Donohue © 2001, p.59, ‘Making Tracks’, Dedalus Press.  This man was an absolute inspiration.  He read and considered my work with great experience and knowledge, so every critique was harsh but helpful.  This poem is sad but then, he often seemed to be…
7. “Wounded Leopard” by Harry Farrell © 1968 from ‘Copper Dust & Other Gleamings’, self-published in Northern Rhodesia.  I met Harry in Africa in 1971 and tried to buy a copy of his book but he had sold all he’d printed.  So he lent me one to copy, for my own enjoyment.  I still have and treasure the original, typed on an old Olivetti.  Africa comes alive for me, through his poetry.
8. “Fifth of November” by Esther Morgan © 2001, from ‘Beyond Calling Distance’, Bloodaxe Books.  Glen Phillips introduced Esther to my class at Edith Cowan University and I’ve been a fan ever since.  She was good enough to edit a series of poems I wrote in Ireland, while based at UEA and editor of ‘Reactions’ New Poetry;  three journals of which I still read.
9.  “Just for Raema” by Glen Phillips, © 2005.  This poem was sent to me privately.  It spoke to my heart of pain and loss – but never ’emptiness’.
10. “No Bowl Of Cherries” by Silver Spun Sand  a.k.a. Christine Ann Chatworthy © 2012 on ABC Tales.  Seems a very suitable poem to end this list on… all about life and the cherries thrown at us.

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #HarryOwen  #WorldPoetryDay  #NanWhitcomb  #PamAyres  #TAGHungerford  #GerryMurphy   #ABCTales:Bee  #GregoryO’Donohue  #HarryFarrell  #EstherMorgan  #GlenPhillips  #ABCTales:SilverSpunSand  #Begorrathon16   #Poems  #Poetry  #Word-weaving  #Top10FavPoems  #MunsterLiteratureCentre

Today, Rick shared a poem on Write Out Loud called ‘Old Time Religion’ and I was totally inspired.  His words took me straight back to growing up in what was then, Northern Rhodesia.

Mum with Quinten Quinebelle III or Quicksie for short, in the early 1960’s.

In my African childhood.

We lived next door to a ‘church’,

could hear their fervent chest-beating,

shouting at all times of the day and night.

So could our prize-winning show-dog.

A Beagle barking continuously

can be annoying… but not enough

to warrant throwing an axe

hitting and chopping off her leg.

Her Agricultural show career ended

although she enjoyed the breeding…

We moved away to safer neighbours,

our dog limping through her dreams.

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2019

#POEM:InMyAfricanChildhood  #FrancesMacaulayForde  #WriteOutLoud  #Poetry  #Beagles  #Neighbours  #Church

Just received the OK to share a wonderful poem I found on my preferred poetry blog; Write Out Loud,  ruthlessly lampooning the Corporate World and it’s inherent characters.  I smiled, laughed and giggled all the way through my reading – I am visually stimulated and his visuals were hilarious! 

I’m sure, if you ever inhabited that high-rise enterprise you’ll enjoy it too,  so I’ve copied it below his ‘permission’.  

Hi Frances
Thanks very much for your kind and thoughtful comments re: ‘Monday Morning – 9AM’  I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Of course you can use it on your blog – maybe just put a reference on there to my website www.thecrowsofalbion.com so folk might head over and take a look/listen at more stuff 😃
I’ve left those days of meetings behind – thank god. took early retirement and never looked back. I certainly don’t miss any of the characters in this poem I can tell you 😉
Thanks once again – glad you liked it
Ian

Just in case you haven’t clicked over to Write Out Loud to read the poem, here it is:

Monday Morning – 9AM

He calls the meeting to order

The alligator with the human skin briefcase

Teeth like buzz-saw blades

She raises the first objection

The girl with butterfly wings

Muddy puddles for eyes

The maggot takes the minutes

Slowly chewing the page

Drizzling ink-blood on paper

Smudging ideas

A firefly drifts aimlessly

From subject to subject

Saying nothing

Words like gossamer cobwebs

And the hyena

Stares out of the window

And smiles

While playing a fountain pen

Round and round

His finger claws

Interrupted

By a slow spider

Who distributes

Croissants and coffee

To break up the tedium

A cat licks the cream pot

A dog chews an idea bone

A parrot with golden plumage

Mimics the boar who is speaking

In riddles and rhymes

The clock runs counter clockwise

Seconds stretch into minutes

Minutes to hours

Like clouds across a mountain

Slowly the objectives unwind

Leaving snapping dragons

And mewling little demons

Clicking and clacking

Digging up bones

Long buried and forgotten

When the gavel comes down

The corporate menagerie

Dust of their crisp suits

From a century of dust

Adjust their positions

Raise to their full height

Of not much or nothing at all

And leave through the door

Of shimmering dreams

And rose coloured glass

Come on down you pretenders

You hoary old men

You power dressed bitches

You meek being led

By faceless monstrosities

Sitting in caves

At the end of an oak paneled corridor.

This is the Company

Grinding up lives

In its mincing gears

The time and the date

Placed in the diary

Along with the doodles

And pertinent points

From a thousand

Monday morning meetings

Where caffeine and ambition

Pump screaming adrenaline

Into the veins of the smiling

Ruthless devourers of souls

Ian Whiteley © 2019

Don’t forget to check out his website too. 

#IanWhiteley  #thecrowsofalbion  #poem  #MondayMorning-9AM  #CorporateWorld  #WhiteCollar  #Lampooning

Filmed in 1985 around Northbridge, inside the burnt-out Swan Brewery, at MidWestTV studios and a very different Perth Railway Station, was another video called: ‘Shattered Windows’ .

My daughter was 8 – thought being there was great watching Pete and I do our thing.

It was the 1st Music Video film-partners Peter A. and I did when we started SPHINX Productions back in 1985.  Totally scripted, directed and produced by yours truly, the video won Best Cinematography for Peter in the WA Young Filmmakers Awards at the Film & TV Institute in Fremantle.

The original song was written by a break-dancing duo who won the Talent Competition I ran at the Riverton & Kelmscott Hotels in 1983.  Wonder where they are now?

Apart from $1,000, their prize included this video clip made by Sphinx Productions, the little production company a young but very talented Peter and I set up in 1985.

#FTIYoungFilmakersAward   #ShatteredWindows  #SwanBrewery  #Northbridge  #PerthRailwayStn  #Mid-WesternTV  #MusicVideo  #SphinxProductions

Looking through my archives on Vimeo, I’ve found a little video I put together with firstly photos from the 2009 and vision (with sound) of the parade in the 2010 Moondyne Festivals held in Toodyay.

On the way home I wrote a poem inspired by the evidence of recent bushfires in the landscape which was later published by the International Centre for Landscape and Language Journal, Edith Cowan University.

Toodyay. 

black ash still lay

where fire had licked

with devil tongues

across the road-side gravel

a careless cigarette

city slicker thrown

on community fun day

to re-enact Moondyne Joe

quick fire prowled up

summer-dry gullies

stand of trees ridge

wind break – not fire-breaker

no escape allowed

as bright yellow jackets

smother white foam

contain the bush fire danger

gumtree pale striped

old bark peeled back

green growth beauty

black trees juxtaposed

fresh life canopies

halt dieback spores

spiked hair sprouts

thousand years and counting

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2010

#POEM:Toodyay  #MoondyneJoe  #MoondyneFestivals  #ToodyayWA  #poetry  #FrancesMacaulayForde