Posts Tagged ‘Frances Macaulay Forde’

And I am… jealous.

Posted in Love, Poetry, Romance, WA Writers, Writing, tagged Frances Macaulay Forde, jealous, Love, love poem, poetry, romance, wa writer on September 9, 2014| 2 Comments »

And I am…

looking through photos of days gone by

– your women – sharp intake of breath.

A caressing finger

tells me more

than words or deeds.

A hidden agenda

when revealed

shocks absolutely.

You laugh ‘Ha’ and say,

‘We’re talking about

20 years ago!’

OK, yes we are, but

in that moment

– in our time

you experience

pleasure –

that same tingle

you experienced

20 years ago

when your pen*s

responded

to a girl

everyone

lusted after.

And I am

…jealous.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #jealous #poetry #romance #lovepoem #love

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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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Art as the Spark: Connections

Posted in Art, Art as the Spark, Poetry, WA Writers, Writing, tagged Art as the Spark, Creative Connections, Frances Macaulay Forde on September 7, 2014| 1 Comment »

Three of five poems written to the art of the disabled and sold with the works during the Creative Connections Exhibition 2007.

Circles

In this match of life
others call a game
my hands flutter to
find the finger holes

I fix my gaze on pins
measuring the lane
grip hard and swing
bowling ball aimed

been knocked down
but stubborn as a pin
I stand again, ready
for the next bowler.

Country

take my hand
walk with me
through family

follow straight
railway lines
in the sunshine

leave hand prints
in caves sprayed
white sand hills

mountains of
red clay heart
brown beauty

take my hand
walk with me
through country

Wild Orchid

With a naturists eye
infinite care, such
considered placement.
A fern frond here.
A gum leaf there.

Pink & yellow dried
petals, delicate veins
like a bridal veil,
placed in the centre
of your wedding cake.

An orchid appears
exotic and rare,
like me.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #CresativeConnections #ArtAsTheSpark

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Reading: “Dogs Singing”

Posted in Animals, Books, Ireland, Poetry, Writers, Writing, tagged DogsSinging, Frances Macaulay Forde, JessieLendennie, SalmonBookshop, SalmonPoetry on September 6, 2014| 1 Comment »

My friend Jessie Lendennie, poet and Salmon Poetry publisher extraordinaire loves dogs so much, she called on poetic friends to send their poems about dogs for a tribute anthology; “Dogs Singing”.

The result is a book I keep on my desk to savor, to delve into, every now an then.

I still miss my own faithful Butchy – often feel him pacing outside the back door and fancy I catch a glimpse of him checking the garden, as I hang the washing.

This poem by Desmond Gough is simply called “Zach” appears on page 61 of 417 pages.

You can order your own copy on-line or pop into the Salmon Bookshop & Literary Centre in Ennistymon, Co. Clare.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #JessieLendennie #SalmonPoetry #SalmonBookshop #DogsSinging

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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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War… what is it good for?

Posted in 1968 Notebook, Other blogs, Poetry, War Years 1939-45, tagged Ceramic Poppies, Frances Macaulay Forde, Queen In Black, Remembrance Day, Tower of LOndon, Tower Poppies, World War I on September 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Images of poppies pouring out of the Tower of London, to mark the Centenary of the start of World War 1 and those who gave their lives for king and country… each ceramic poppy represents a fallen soldier.

I picked one to share and it came from this blog posting which tells the story so much better than I can.

I remember watching TV in my bedsit in Leeds, 1973 as the Queen remembered…

The Queen in Black

Remembrance Day, 1973

How many thousands watched her lay

the wreath of poppies while they prayed…

Or held their breath and stood still in silence

two minutes for the sacrifice, in remembrance.

As each petal falls from above so a page in the book

of memories ~ thoughts of someone they loved and lost.

They say each petal represents the life of one who gave.

Poppies seen growing amongst a countryside of graves…

Frances Macaulay Forde © 1973

#FrancesMacaulayForde #RemembranceDay #QueenInBlack #TowerOfLondon #TowerPoppies #CeramicPoppies #WorldWarI #WWI

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Moondyne Festival Toodyay

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Frances Macaulay Forde, International Centre for Landscape & Language, Moondyne Festival, Moondyne Joe, SoiuthWest WA, ToodyayWA on September 3, 2014| 1 Comment »

In May every year there’s a festival held in the small country town of Toodyay to commemorate the escape of Moondyne Joe from the infamous Fremantle Goal in 1865.

He became a folk hero by evading capture and making his way back home to Toodyay where he was eventually caught, upstairs in the pub.

The annual festivities are a light-hearted way to bring visitors to the town which has been ravaged by bushfires many times over the years.

These photos were taken when we attended the festival in May, 2009 to sell our fudge.

Later that year in December when the temperature reached 45 degrees C. more than 3000 hectares and 38 homes were lost to a catastrophic fire blamed on a collapsed power line.

I’m happy to report we again attended in 2010 when Toodyay had recovered well with crowds flocking to support the town, only a short 2 hour drive from Perth.

I wrote a poem, inspired by the evidence of the 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

#FrancesMacaualayForde #ToodyayWA #MoondyneJoe #MoondyneFestival #SouthWestWA #ICLL-ECU #InternationalCentreForLandscape&Language

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Birthday Month

Posted in 1968 Notebook, Love, Poetry, Romance, tagged birthdays, Capricorn, Frances Macaulay Forde, Libra, Librian, love poems, poetry, romance, Virgo on September 2, 2014| 2 Comments »

My 40th Party – 1990

Welcome to September, an expensive month with the most birthdays of family and friends – and my own.

It was difficult for my daughter to fit in an afternoon tea to celebrate mine – so it’ll be a week late. It’s Father’s Day the same weekend and since the divorce, naturally it’s a separate thing…

Seven September birthdays in all; two of my brothers (one turning the big seven ‘Oh’), my beautiful daughter-in-law and 3 very good friends.

I think Mum and Dad must have made sure they were together over Christmas to have three September babies, but then Christmas has always been a big social occasion in our family.

My dad’s birthday was New Year’s Eve so although we’d be spread around town celebrating with our friends, we always met up at midnight to raise a glass to dad.

I can always tell a Virgo or a Librian… or a Capricorn. This 1973 poem is another from my 1968 notebook.

Did you know?

Did you know that Cancer

was compatible with Virgo?

No?

Well, it is.

So now, you

should take notice of me.

You’re so tall

you have to bend

to come through the door.

I’m so small

I have to jump

to reach the top shelf.

Funny, hey, that I

should fancy you

for myself?

And me,

so near the floor…

How’s the weather up there?

Do you know I care?

Well, I do.

I like an awful lot of things about you;

your blond hair, blue eyes and glasses.

Your big nose!

Even your massive

size ten feet

and huge toes.

Like thick fingers,

they’ve got character.

I tried on your shoes the other day

and shook with laughter.

They made me feel all feminine

because mine were so small,

compared…

I don’t even reach your shoulder

in platforms!

And yet…

When you hold me

or kiss me

or anything,

I feel nice.

All protected and loved

and I trust you,

completely

even when you’re driving

and you know how nervous I am

normally…

So you see,

the difference in height

doesn’t mean a thing, really

– does it?

Do you believe in the ‘Stars’?

Well, I do…

but that wasn’t why

I fell in love

with you.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #Romance #LovePoems #Poems #love #Virgo #Capricorn #Libra #birthdays

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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,