Day 11 – intertextuality (& introspection)

11 elephantwater

Book Club selection this week was Water for Elephants.

*****

big top potpourri 

granted Water for Elephants
has been read before
but the deja vu familiarity blends
into The Night Circus, Cirque du Freak
numerous history of circus books
from when I was researching
my play The Menagerie of Broken Flowers
(later renamed Ugliophobia)
countless kids books by Enid,
others starring Paddington, Olivia, etc;

dozens of celluloid iterations
The Greatest Show on Earth,
Marx Brothers, Freaks, Elvis
probably worked at one in
the mid-60’s, a misunderstood
troublemaker; U2’s dreamlike video
to All I Want Is You; even Dumbo ;
& of course the exquisitely surreal
dustbowl drama Carnivale.
Plus: managing a kids circus;
working for Cirque du Soleil;
meeting many of Australia’s
talented carnies & contemporary
circus artists

means the words & situations
all blur together to fabricate
a simulacrum of  surely  every
eternal     childhood     dream

 


 

BONUS POEM: April 11, 2018

Final David-inspired pome (for now?). 

*****

marble thoughts

schoolgirl groups
giggle, turn away
countless digital zooms
capture closeups
of my junk

others slide out
the extensions
on their ubiquitous
selfie sticks
pretend to balance
me on their palms
or once again
point how small
my tinkle is
(won’t even deign
to mention how cold
his studio was in winter)

some do little more
than click & walk on
one more cultural
checkpoint ticked off
the list

a few of these awful
smartPhone snaps
are even well framed

miss the days
people
actually looked

11b thoughts.JPG

Day 10 – let down (& queuing up)

NOTE: Two long exhausting workdays meant poems were written on Tues & Wed just not posted. Aiming to catch up now.

10 flat

Frustratingly, the universe slowed me down today (on my longest work day). But instead of allowing it to frustrate me (for too long), I played a little game with synonyms & metaphors to pass the time.

*****

deflated

feeling flat
sequence of entire
day scuppered
now under pressure
cancel first shift
plan how get to rest
done  what began as
bright bubbly morning
had its mood pricked
spare at home, also flat
insurance overdue, not
renewed resilience resilience
pump yourself up
can’t be blowed
too deflated to even finish

but sitting in solitude
on back road silence
waiting for a saviour
not really speaking to
slowly
stone of stillness
inner tube of tranquility
pneumatic resolve
bones of birds
lift me skywards
a gnostic spark
ascending 

 


 

BONUS POEM: April 10, 2018

After a scare with their prepaid Skip the Line tickets I finally saw my mother (Old Ma Jones) & my niece inside, when I thought, WTH I may as join the end of the queue & see how long it actually takes. Seemed a shame to be so close & not even try. 

I was starting to doubt the wisdom of that reasoning, however, when after 15 minutes we had not even turned the corner … to get to the corner … where we could see how far we still were from the entrance.

Nevertheless, in just over an hour, I was inside gazing on a truly exquisite work of art. This poem is not about that, though there are a couple of possible David-themed poems perculating around which may pop up here later this month. This pome is about:

*****

Standing in the line to see David with 10,000 others

have to keep
reminding my
small country
consciousness
that this is
only the start
of turista season
— the shoulder
before the peak
summer months
really get things
swinging

if this throng
is shoulder,
i’d loathe
being here
for belly season

10b queue real

Day 09 – failure (& failing)

NOTE: Two long exhausting workdays meant poems were written on Tues & Wed just not posted. Aiming to catch up now.

09 Alby Blue

Inspired by reading about one of the greatest failures in human history … 

*****

failure 

i.
useless bachelors degree.
unemployed, unemployable.
career going nowhere,
sabotaged by professors
who dislike the class-cutting
cocksure student.
deeply depressed.
burden to his parents.
contemplates suicide.
even worse ; considers
becoming insurance agent.
unwed girlfriend pregnant.
illegitimate daughter.
can’t afford marriage.

this is Albert Einstein 1901-1902

special

ii.
sits in dusty patent office.
daydreams about riding
his intergalactic beam of light.
publishes first paper on
special theory of relativity.
— inverts perception of universe
world turned on its head. 

1905, just three light years later

 


 

BONUS POEM: April 9, 2018

An accumulation of titbits I read while researching this high point of western art.

*****

David’s Achilles 

decades ago
on the instruction
of Nani (a 16th-century
Venetian painter’s model)
a deranged man
hammered the foot
of a master
damaging the giant
giant killer’s toe

every shattered fragment
collected & restored

moral outrage aside
the attack enabled
scientists to learn
the Carrara marble
was full of tiny holes
causing speedier degradation
than other marble

but the giant slayer’s
own demise might be
those who love him
endless microvibrations
created daily by the million
footsteps of iPhone raising
selfie-stick swinging
aficionados

09b toe