​
we always connected
we felt it right away
how our spirits smiled
when we first met that day

i know you well now
when all is said and done
i even know how your toes
point down when you come

now we are good friends
which is how it should be
keeping our distance but
there's ever possibility

when you come close now
a mission i am on
to touch, to taste and join you
in genital frisson

​
rather than navigate the
perilous straights of truth
you wade in shallow waters
of irrelevance, in a hi-viz safety vest

you can't talk of risk
when you have wasted your life
in banality

pretending as the arbiter
of decorum and manners
while committing the cardinal offence
of being boring

feeling resentful when people
don't listen to you,
so you club them
with corrective self righteousness

making a big deal of
breaches of protocol
as though it matters

you are vigilant about
inconsequential detail
the extent of your control

you dedicate your life to
rules and values made by others
rather than imagine other ways

our fate is the same though
all of us die

but I ... will live madly
with the thrill  of a life
without restraint
burning for beauty

forget perfect
my friends
as we manifest
our aspirations
it's about the journey
not the score card

i don't understand
slavish worship
of big data
like it was
a big mama
of truth? streuth!
more data won't
help discernment

this is not science
and way less than perfect
yet slavishly we
attend our screens
providing metadata more
hash tag what for?

while barnsey
cried like a refugee
i ate like one this week
a statement of support
for those not as lucky
about the lottery
of this global inequity
a little lesson for me
well fed and free
in knowing food
in knowing gratitude
in knowing hunger
in knowing anger
in knowing want
and saying don't
dismiss humanity
not as free
a glimpse for me
a little empathy
for life as refugee

time to stop
hunker down
withdraw
think
reflect
celebrate silence
hibernate
conserve
hug
roast
contemplate
regenerate
sleep­
dream
breathe fresh air
enjoy winter
the quiet season

was one of those nights
of deep dream descent

as i awoke
the daylight broke
the subconscious swirl
and i feel stubble on my chin
while that was growing i
let another world in
where

i danced with demons
while under the covers
journeyed with phantoms
past people and lovers
out of place and out of time
giving me crazy stories
so lyrical and surprising
i wondered if they were mine

i love the chance
to join this nightly dance
with my unchained mind
to set it free
to play care free in
my rich dream land

see you there again tonight?

what is it about water
so calming and meditative?

spent most of my life looking at it
bringing on muse and contemplation

watching the flow lines
of surfers at wave play
or

gazing at
the ancient river red gums
bowing to the muddy Murrumbidgee
in reverent silence

and now watching
the flowing gutters
and umbrella parade
over a beer
in a Newtown bar

water makes me wonder
in a peaceful way
of the beauty in the world
like the dancing air-borne plastic bag
in American Beauty