ASF Poetry Thread

2020hindsight · 26 September 2007

MY ABC / SBS / AUS

I’m an avid fan member, and mad ABC’er
love their work! every word they inform us!
and a “Media Watch”ed is a media free-er
to explore all the world’s "Four Corners"
and I thank their bright stars, and the Rainbow Serpent
I’m a son of that Southern Cross blinking
and my “8 cents a day” (between boozing and burping)
makes just ABC sense, I’m-a thinking.

But what adds to my love is a hint of a fear
that they’ll take away something enjoyed
on that day that it goes, my Aus disappears
to be replaced with a void,
replacement of “Insight and Aussie guest panels”
by “cheering for CNN tanks”
and the “global warming” of Discovery Channels
and a global cooling t’wards Yanks.

Sure there’s lighter and laughter and Chasers and wallers
with a message inane or important
Then there’s pollies and panels and footy and hollers
and the full cross-section assortment…
…..
I reckon get kids involved!
............ listen in lambs!!
Nintendo’s for sheep!,
.......... missing links!
These 4 cents per day say “I laugh, hence I am”
And these 4, “I am, hence I think”!!.........

2020hindsight · 26 September 2007

2020hindsight said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booligal,_New_South_Wales

A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson (1864–1941) wrote a poem called Hay and Hell and Booligal [16] about the district. (concluding lines)

..I was actually looking for a poem about Wilcannia - the search continues

oops the poem was written by Paterson about Walgett
from 116 years ago - when the river was full (er)

BEEN THERE BEFORE
by A. B. "Banjo" Paterson

There came a stranger to Walgett town,
To Walgett town when the sun was low,
And he carried a thirst that was worth a crown,
Yet how to quench it he did not know;
But he thought he might take those yokels down,
The guileless yokels of Walgett town.

They made him a bet in a private bar,
In a private bar when the talk was high,
And they bet him some pounds no matter how far
He could pelt a stone, yet he could not shy
A stone right over the river so brown,
The Darling river at Walgett town.

He knew that the river from bank to bank
Was fifty yards, and he smiled a smile
As he trundled down, but his hopes they sank
For there wasn't a stone within fifty mile;
For the saltbush plain and the open down
Produce no quarries in Walgett town.

The yokels laughed at his hopes o'erthrown,
And he stood awhile like a man in a dream;
Then out of his pocket he fetched a stone,
And pelted it over the silent stream --
He had been there before: he had wandered down
On a previous visit to Walgett town.

The Bulletin, 19 December 1891

http://www.nnsw.com.au/walgett/history.html For the students of history, the district of Walgett is most interesting.
Notable aspects of the history of the district include:

1818 - Explorer John Oxley explored the Macquarie River
1829 - Explorer Charles Sturt explored the Castlereagh River
1832 - Explorer Thomas Mitchell explored the Barwon and Gwydir Rivers
1834 - Explorer Charles Coxen explored the Namoi River
1859 - Walgett township is surveyed
Records suggest that the first white man into the Walgett area was Captain Charles Sturt in February, 1829 as he explored the Castlereagh River and ventured into the area. Prior to that John Oxley was known to be in the region, but most probably much further south.

One early name associated with the settlement of the area was that of Henry Bailey who may have occupied 'Walchate' (as it was then known). This was the name given to the pastoral area (or 'run') that was described as a 32,000 acre area capable of running just 300 cattle. This was around the mid to late 1840's.

Settlement followed until the town of Walgett was proclaimed in March of 1885. In this era, the township was served by paddle steamers, used to carry the produce of the area - wool, wood, dried fruit and livestock. These steamers travelled the Murray-Darling River system during this period and provided the main transport to the area.

In 1877, Frederick Wolseley started to experiment with mechanical shearing devices, having decided that the existing method of hand shearing was inadequate and needed a major overhaul. Patent for this machine, developed in his blacksmith's shop on his property Euroka, was granted in March of 1877. The machine was a huge success, spreading rapidly throughout the whole country. Relics of this era can still be seen on the property.

The Walgett Mail was the first newspaper to be published in the region and commenced publication in 1879, its publisher being a man named George Cohen. The town also boasted its own brewery (run by a Mr. Skinner) until around 1910.

In 1906, the local government act (of the same year) proclaimed an area in the region as the Walgett Shire

The railroad finally arrived in Walgett in 1908 and this brought about many changes.

Walgett was also the gathering place of many of the areas aboriginal tribes. The natives came from near and far to participate in the many corroborees that featured in their way of life, a tradition sadly no longer practiced. A large number of aboriginals are still found in the township, the Namoi Reserve and the Gingie Reserve.

http://walgett.localinfo.org.au/ourtown.htm

2020hindsight · 27 September 2007

Shakespeare Revisited:-
objective :- "That An Austral Shakespeare may rise, whose living page To Nature true may charm in ev’ry age"

Here's a way to have a bit of fun with Shakespeare - and at the same time really think about what he is saying - I mean every line is potentially a gem (as if I'm qualified to comment sheesh)

But then you try to say something similar ( or a pisstake whatever - like the one below) in your own words -
Hamlet Act III, scene I.... the 2B or not 2B soliloquy...

(and obviously need not have any techical, grammatical or literary merit - but you may of course choose to be more - or less - flippant than me (than I?)

you can search for a keyword here (for any shakespearean quote) :-
http://www.rhymezone.com/r/gwic.cgi?Path=shakespeare/

Could be judged on
a) did the "sequel" achieve the same meaning?
b) what parts of Shakepeares meaning were lost
c) are we all lost
d) is the world lost
e) or can it be refound
f) these and other questions will be revealed - provided people have a go lol :

ava good one

If I should sign off on this diary's text
what world would follow in what dreamlike state?
would this world’s problems follow to the next
or judge me with that fire that follows fate?

to choose inaction or a blurr in action
to choose restraint or go in unrestrained
to hold back nothing or hold back a fraction
to go in soon before I go insane?

Shakespeare sketch

some other quotes here :-
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=180130&highlight=shakespeare#post180130

and other example(s) here :-
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=180195&highlight=shakespeare#post180195
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=86026&highlight=shakespeare#post86026

speaking of "Australianising" Shakespeare :-

Poem #1 by William Charles Wentworth is somewhat similar - herewith some excerpts ... (first mention of Warragamba in poetry ?)
http://www.bartleby.com/249/1.html
From ‘Australasia’
....
Where Warragamba’s rage has rent in twain 15
Opposing mountains, thund’ring to the plain,
No child of song has yet invoked thy aid,
’Neath their primaeval solitary shade,—
Still, gracious Pow’r, some kindling soul inspire
To wake to life my country’s unknown lyre, 20
That from creation’s date has slumbering lain,
Or only breath’d some savage uncouth strain,—
And grant that yet an Austral Milton’s song
Pactolus-like flow deep and rich along,—
An Austral Shakespeare rise, whose living page
To Nature true may charm in ev’ry age;—
And that an Austral Pinder daring soar,
Where not the Theban Eagle reach’d before.

(surely that would be Gordon)

And, O Britannia! shouldst thou cease to ride
Despotic Empress of old Ocean’s tide;— 30
Should thy tam’d Lion—spent his former might—
No longer roar, the terror of the fight;—
Should e’er arrive that dark, disastrous hour,
When, bow’d by luxury, thou yield’st to power;—
When thou, no longer freest of the free, 35
To some proud victor bend’st the vanquished knee;—
May all thy glories in another sphere
Relume, and shine more brightly still than here:
May this—thy last-born infant—then arise,
To glad thy heart, and greet thy parent eyes; 40
And Australasia float, with flag unfurl’d,
A new Britannia in another world!

funny, never thought of Australia as being UK's "last-born infant" before

2020hindsight · 27 September 2007

also in that soliloquy... (about line 20)
(and if you can't improve on this you're not trying ..

HAMLET :- who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?

we're born into a life "SORTA understood"
yet forced to choose this 'drother or the other
who, torn in two, would choose "NAUGHT understood"?
- we take the devil known before another

2020hindsight · 27 September 2007

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

to zee or not to zee, that is the question
whether tis nobler in the mind to snuff out
on these swings and hammocks with outrageous snoring
or to flay your arms against a sea of bubbles
and by not opposing, befriend them.

To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.

Today: to sleep;
and snore; and by that sleep to say we end
The heartaches and a really serious shock
That flesh is hairy too, 'tis a constipation
Devoutly to be wish'd.

etc etc (bs bs )

drillinto · 28 September 2007

Hand Shadows
Mary Cornish

My father put his hands in the white light
of the lantern, and his palms became a horse
that flicked its ears and bucked; an alligator
feigning sleep along the canvas wall leapt up
and snapped its jaws in silhouette, or else
a swan would turn its perfect neck and drop
a fingered beak toward that shadowed head
to lightly preen my father's feathered hair.
Outside our tent, skunks shuffled in the woods
beneath a star that died a little every day,
and from a nebula of light diffused
inside Orion's sword, new stars were born.
My father's hands became two birds, linked
by a thumb, they flew one following the other.

from Red Studio, 2007
Oberlin College Press, USA

2020hindsight · 28 September 2007

http://unionsong.com/u149.html
A poem from the Depression days
Let's be thankful we didn't live then

The Hungry Mile
A poem by Ernest Antony©Ernest Antony 1930

They tramp there in their legions on the mornings dark and cold
To beg the right to slave for bread from Sydney's lords of gold;
They toil and sweat in slavery, 'twould make the devil smile,
To see the Sydney wharfies tramping down the hungry mile.

On ships from all the seas they toil, that others of their kind,
May never know the pinch of want nor feel the misery blind;
That makes the live, of men a hell in those conditions vile;
That are the hopeless lot of those who tramp the hungry mile.

The slaves of men who know no thought of anything but gain,
Who wring their brutal profits from the blood and sweat and pain
Of all the disinherited that slave arid starve the while,
Upon the ships beside the wharves along the hungry mile.

But every stroke of that grim lash that sears the souls of men
With interest due from years gone by, shall be paid back again
To those who drive these wretched slaves to build the golden pile.
And blood shall blot the memory out of Sydney's hungry mile.

The day will come, aye, come it must, when these same slaves shall rise,
And through the revolution's smoke, ascending to the skies,
The master's, face shall show the fear he hides, behind his smile.
Of these his slaves, who on that day shall storm the hungry mile.

And when the world grows wiser and all men at last are free
When none shall feel the hunger nor tramp in misery
To beg the right to slave for bread, the children then may smile.
At those strange tales they tell of what was once the hungry mile.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/28/2046207.htm

Farewell to an era as Darling Harbour wharves close
By Adele O'Hare
Updated 1 hour 1 minute ago

Darling Harbour is one of the most historically significant maritime sites in Sydney (Australian National Maritime Museum: Andrew Frolows)

The closure of the wharves at Sydney's Darling Harbour tonight will be remembered as a sad but significant event in maritime history, a museum director says.

The container ship Southern Moana is due to discharge the Darling Harbour wharves' last cargo load tonight.

The wharves were constructed about 1811 when clippers and other ships were causing congestion in Sydney Cove.

The area later became known as the Hungry Mile because of workers who queued along the wharves waiting for work during the Depression in the 1930s.

Australian National Maritime Museum director Mary-Louise Williams says it is the end of an era.

"It's rather sad to see it finish its work as a working harbour," she said.

"I think people in Sydney like to see the commercial ships that go in and out of the harbour and there are fewer and fewer of them now as they're being relocated to other ports."

The wharves are ceasing operation to make way for a redevelopment of eastern Darling Harbour, to include parkland and residential, retail and commercial spaces.

Ms Williams says the site was one of the most historically significant maritime sites in Sydney.

"It's a very significant day for Sydney Harbour and a sad one, I think, for a lot of people who have been involved in maritime industries in Sydney," she said.

Rich history
Ms Williams says the site was at the centre of social change at several points in Australia's history.

"It was the site of... the development of a maritime industry in Australia, going back further into the 19th century, with all the ships that brought passengers during and after the war, migrant ships that came... into Darling Harbour," she said.

"And then of course the huge changes that took place in handling materials and waterside working and the Hungry Mile, a significant part of maritime history in Australia."

Ms Williams says the Hungry Mile represented the push for a fair go for people who worked on the waterfront and sparked major changes in the industry.

She says the maritime museum will keep a record of the rich history of the Darling Harbour wharves.

"We have a range of artefacts from the shipping companies who've used that site - Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Maersk, P&O, the list is endless really of the shipping companies that have used Darling Harbour over the years," she said.

"So we've got records, memorabilia associated with all of those companies; also the industries that are associated with them - Patrick's, we've got some material related to Patrick's and other stevedoring companies, and the unions themselves of course too, for whom the Hungry Mile represents an important part of their own social and personal histories."

2020hindsight · 28 September 2007

THE MYANMAR MONKS

call it Buddhist lead alignment
where their laws are worse than worst
call it Buddhist lead refinement
where the generals’ law comes first

and the monks' bald heads are bleeding
as they march past rifles butts
of the people they are leading
so much courage, so much guts

and your saffron robes are bloodied
and your sovereign rights are nil
and your Buddhist pearl is muddied
with the blood that trickles still

and your leaders are as smarmy
as their neighbours in Tibet
may you come back as the Army
may your Buddhist pearl shine yet.

such a shallow cry “good on you”
when you fall – yet such a debt
with the world’s blind eyes upon you
may your Buddhist pearl shine yet.

...........
as for Bush protesting “violence”
should he push "Democracy"
he’d do better keeping silence
else be charged hypocrisy.

2020hindsight · 28 September 2007

SLOWLY MARK II (by anon - with modifications)

slowly a snail makes its silvery trail
slowly a blind child will learn to read braille
slowly the whale calf becomes the whale
slowly old people grow fragile and frail

slowly a bird learns the skills of the nest
slowly the migrating geese seek rest
slowly the ocean wave comes to a crest
slowly the sun settles deep in the west

slowly a child learns to crawl and to walk
slowly the dove learns to hide from the hawk
slowly a skeleton turns into chalk
....
- slow grows the champagne - and slow grows the cork :alcohol:
.....

slowly the hour hand of life span sweeps
slowly discover the sleep of all sleeps
end of the line for those fence-jumping sheeps
slowly the permanent slumbering creeps

golfmos123 · 28 September 2007

This poetry thread is getting way too high-brow for my liking. Time to bring it back to a much lower level....(just so I don't get asked questions soon, Kaczynski was the Oklahoma unabomber)

Said President Clinton to a young Miss Lewinsky
We'd best not leave clues like Kaczynski
You look quite a mess
So take the hem of your dress
And wipe that stuff off of your chinski.....

I love a good limerick....any more out there.....

2020hindsight · 29 September 2007

golfmos123 said:
This poetry thread is getting way too high-brow for my liking. Time to bring it back to a much lower level....(just so I don't get asked questions soon, Kaczynski was the Oklahoma unabomber)

Said President Clinton to a young Miss Lewinsky
We'd best not leave clues like Kaczynski
You look quite a mess
So take the hem of your dress
And wipe that stuff off of your chinski.....

I love a good limerick....any more out there.....

as Bill said to Hillary - wow that's bizarre
that romp was bout average - if not well on par
but with what's-her-name Monica
it went ultrasonica
... we went close dear - but mmmm - no cigar

2020hindsight · 29 September 2007

AUNG SAN SUU KYI

we may wish that our gods would send us some rain
or the weather man turn magician
we may wish that the Burmese did not live in pain
or the generals tried general contrition
we may want that the innocents stopped being slain
and the goons gave up firearms for fishin -
maybe wants (maybe wishes) may all be in vain
but it won’t be for want of wishin

we may wish that the hoodlums and Klu Klux white-hoodists
would be locked up with dregs who push dope
we may wish other Burmese would not shoot on Buddhists
praps a quiet aside from the Pope
we may wish for a u turn by men trained and shrewdest
on a blood splattered slippery slope
praps reality’s awakening is this time the rudest
but it won’t be for want of hope

praps we freeze any assets and cut any ties
and matters Myanmar reject
praps we bring back “Old BURMA” without all the lies
with a leader the people elect
though she sings to the end of her heroine’s breath
and her life as a mother is wrecked -
praps the mother of Burma unsung until death
but it won’t be for want of respect.

2020hindsight · 30 September 2007

THE BLIND EYE TO THE DARK SIDE OF FRIENDSHIPS

Let's assume that we know what we're doing
and a cracked egg has egg yolk unbroke
to that egg yolk there’s white goo still glueing
but the goo won't have traces of yolk –
In the same way when dealing with friendships
there are friends in the darkness to find
but if looking for darkness in friendships
let's pretend that our eye is half blind.

noirua · 30 September 2007

God save our Gracious Queen
in our race we truly trust,
just let us rule ourselves alone
no chance that we'll go bust.

The strength of the British throne
that's thrust down us night and day
give us the chance to vote again
so we can be awarded a holiday.

noirua · 30 September 2007

The Open Eye to the Bright Side of Friendships

Let's not assume we know what we're doing,
and a good egg has egg yolk unbroke
to that egg yolk its white is awaiting
the egg yolk hard boiled, white not broke-
The same way when dealing with friendships
those friends who are found in the brightness
look thee only for light in those friendships
no need to be blind, the light does the rest.

2020hindsight · 30 September 2007

noirua said:
The Open Eye to the Bright Side of Friendships

Let's not assume we know what we're doing,
and a good egg has egg yolk unbroke
to that egg yolk its white is awaiting
the egg yolk hard boiled, white not broke-
The same way when dealing with friendships
those friends who are found in the brightness
look thee only for light in those friendships
no need to be blind, the light does the rest.

noi, spot on, lol
or maybe "always look for the bright side" maybe?
Always look on the bright side of life - Monty Python

2020hindsight · 30 September 2007

VARIOUS TAKES OF FRIENDSHIP

General:-

there are several quotes on friendship
mostly thought through and mostly part true
and there’s limits to “borrow and lend-ship”
if exceeded you part mostly blue
and there’s always exceptions to rules
there are always exceptional friends
hey there’s also exceptional fools
and the break-ups and make–ups and mends.

A thousand friends:-

he who has a thousand friends
has not a friend to spare
he who has one enemy
will meet him everywhere
or perhaps have a huge “half-friendly crowd”
but a bit smaller “core” of “true friends”
they’re the ones where you think out aloud
they’re the ones to whom one lends

On being deceived:-

It is better to have been deceived
than never (at all) to have trusted
that’s provided you’ve just been relieved
of a buck-or-two, but not a bucket
hey there’s no point in feeling aggrieved
just bad luck-or two – sorta like random
let those bonds become sorta – less weaved
tell that friend to respect the word “tandem”

The team player version…

Let's assume that we know what we're doing
and a cracked egg has egg yolk unbroke
to that egg yolk there’s white goo still glueing
but the goo won't have traces of yolk –
course the yoke argues goo is essential
that an egg is an egg till it’s kickin’
Praps for friendships to reach full potential
it takes teamwork to make a damned chicken

The globe trotting Don Juan …

Praps when dealing with all kinds of kinships
there are friends in the darkness to find
but in searching the darkness for friendships
praps it helps to be three-quarters blind. ??
praps you’re trying romancing in French
praps you throw in a tin white lie
but to chat up a chick on a bench
you will need an “eggs spurt” eye.

2020hindsight · 30 September 2007

A SPOKE OF THE WHEEL JUST SPOKE

I much prefer scrambled than poaching
and kaleidoscope mishmash of folk
and the great wheel of life if approaching
and for some a much sadder joke
If my conscience is "into" "scrambled egging"
then perhaps it is time I awoke
for I just heard a distant voice begging
and a spoke of that wheel just spoke

praps it’s not so much NEEDING a conscience
praps it’s more about letting it grow
praps it’s more about FEEDING that conscience
just to keep me informed on “my bro”
praps it’s not about LEADING that conscience
it was born in your heart don’t you know
praps it’s more about HEEDING that conscience
feel the warmth of its consciousness glow.

praps it’s more about character content
than some character being content
if you HEAR what the poor man wanted
heck!! he only wanted “one tenth”
praps it's more about small children orphaned
who will make it to teens if they're lucky
while we trigger our endless endorphins
while the third world dies silent and yucky.

while we trigger our TIN-heart endorphins
but hey TINMAN !! - the world's not Kentucky!!

2020hindsight · 30 September 2007

THE BUDDHIST WHO SWALLOWED THE FLY

he was walking and whistling
and swallowed a fly
that was obviously oblivious
(with it's headphones on high)

then his tune stopped abrupt
he went cross-eyed and cried
"poor fly!! - last supper supped
that's the last time he flied !!"

TODAY'S FINANCIAL TIMES (posted elsewhere - probably belongs here - some might say in the bin lol- whatever)

It's a sign of my financial times
and the sad slide to "now" from "then"
for five hours I just memorised rhymes
while I searched for a 10 cent pen -
It was lost in a suburb (or suburbs)
I searched up and down streets ( and again!!)
and t'find it - the joy defies proverbs
and defines me the happiest of men.

noirua · 1 October 2007

2020hindsight said:
TODAY'S FINANCIAL TIMES (posted elsewhere - probably belongs here - some might say in the bin lol- whatever)

It's a sign of my financial times
and the sad slide to "now" from "then"
for five hours I just memorised rhymes
while I searched for a 10 cent pen -
It was lost in a suburb (or suburbs)
I searched up and down streets ( and again!!)
and t'find it - the joy defies proverbs
and defines me the happiest of men.

2020, Perhaps it means the guy lost most of his money following advice from the Financial Times and needed the pen to pick a horse in his racing paper.

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