Qed

In this lifetime

We live in the best of times yet the pressure to ignore what we have in favour of what we are told we should have grows inexorably stronger every day.

Recently I have involved myself in a small exercise of dissent. An old run down building stands on a block of land highly prized by the developer for its commercial potential. The building houses a very useful community hall and is also a piece of local history.

The legitimate arguments of heritage and community have failed to move anyone who might intervene. It’s a depressing outcome all the more so because its so predictable.

Which brings me to xkcd and the things we want. Some people want a roof over their heads and enough to eat. Some people want a new car and a big screen tv for their loungeroom. Some people want to be rich…but what we all really want is to be happy.

We can be happy, but it probably means letting go of a lot of other stuff, stuff we have been conditioned to think we must have in order to be happy. Material stuff, behavioural stuff, imaginary stuff. Being happy is up to us, we don’t get too many chances and it would be a shame to go through life in a state of un-happiness.

Just a thought.

Words for Webstock – Bruce Sterling

So you thought writing spec fiction was easy…

Words for Webstock – Bruce Sterling.

Adriano Muraca – Universe of Drops

YouTube – Making of “My Friend Ship” with Musician/Director Dave Righton

Is this a model for the future?

YouTube – Making of “My Friend Ship” with Musician/Director Dave Righton.

On the right and on the left

Unbeknown to me there exists a universe of political bloggers awaiting discovery. Top marks for the right wing agenda of Leon Bertrand and his flatworld belief system although to be fair his perspective is the small “l” liberal approach with a good dose of libertarianism thrown in. I bet he was a serious young liberal at uni.

On the left we have a (naturally) more considered and pluralistic John Quiggin who apparently is “more intelligent than Britney Spears” How’s that for balance?

nothing is

nothing is black and white
even these words
they have a vague
ill-defined edge
it sounds so simple
but the detail hides
another world.

nothing is black or white
although we sometimes
act
the bird eludes the cat
the car collides
things could be otherwise
different perhaps.

the dress is white
the sky is black
yes you can and
no you can’t
one and one makes two
its so simple
can’t you see?

did you know that once
left hands were forced to stay
right hands were made to write
the world was flat
and now its round
only nothing stays the same
the rest is flux.

so no
things are not
just black
or white
things are
things
and people are like you and me.

for mandy

turtles

Meandering
a slick of brown
in a sea of green
the steelwork spanning
and dividing.

Faint hearted now
departed
the tokens all collected
best kept but not
remembered.

Those who choose
stay
endure the gifts of nature
its bounty there
for all to see
and sheltered still
the cautious horses.

Gathered later a likely crowd
spreading cheer and mirth
and chips around.

Moments now of
moments then.

We pass this way
hastily
our journeys crazed
with shells acquired
the soul endures
and remains.

Sometimes I want to write

Stilgherrian’s post got me started and I also confess to a hankering to fiddle with bits of gear every now and then. For instance today’s edict from Jobs regarding the new wank phone has me calculating budgets between now and July 11 to see if I can possibly justify such an indulgence. The rumor that Vodaphone are also thinking about offering the iPhone mk2 on prepaid might just make the difference. But back to the writing thingy…

The point of Stilgherrian’s post is that the creative process is seemingly mired in rather simple habits. Most writers I have read about seem to be chained to their desks during the process of writing a book, at least in some way or another. What about the impact of blogging on the potential to create the next Catcher in the Rye? Writing anything is easy, my 9 year old daughter can manage to string a few words together and make it look like a children’s book and judging by some of the blogging around, there are certainly those who seem to think a few sentences strung together with a handful of hyperlinks to other equally eridute web creations constitutes a work of art comparable with Wuthering Heights however I think there are a few who might disagree. I think it is fair to say that writing well is an art which is why we have traditionally rewarded authors who can do it well with rewards similar to other artists. Sadly for the blogging set, ten minutes on the laptop (or the new iPhone) while swanning around at the local barista is not really the same as slaving away for months and years to produce a manuscript that eventually makes it way onto the best sellers list.

Maybe that’s why writers lead such ordinary lives, anything else just gets in the way.

passing by

the hand slowly passed a glass
of water
was it slow or did time just pause
so briefly
a swan stops then paddles slowly on
the water
clothed in golden glows the trees
do nothing
as winter steals the show.

today i fessed up

A passing car broke through
reminding me of you
and the lines fore wrote
now shared

the writing came with ease
fed by silence unrelenting
a just cause, but undeserving
and dutifully ignored

big and bold
black on white
easy on the eye
still, as they traveled
in waves from mind
to voice betrayed, the eyes
revealed a wound not healed.

Later
darkness swallows another day
in passing, there was no inspiration
only joyless voices
typing,typing,
trying and still failing
to drive your thoughts away.