Tag Archives: selfie stick

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 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

Day 02 – twilight (& touristas)

02 twilight

No longwinded introduction needed tonight.

*****

twilight: autumn roll call driving home

in the 25 dusky kilometres
between work’s end
& my welcoming door
i choose the slower route
the winding back way
through hills

by so doing, i glimpse three
glitteringly furred foxes;
half a dozen twitchy roos;
two scraps of darkness
reveal themselves as bats;
a crossing echidna forces brakes;
& a stealth owl i can’t identify
skims the windscreen
in an unwise game of chicken 

& although these are all
common enough creatures
for my part of the earth
every one ticks the box
inside my greengrass heart
labelled TINY THRILL

 

 

BONUS POEM: April 2, 2018

Wandering round Rome’s big Roman attractions (the Flavian Amphitheatre, Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill, the Forum) has been somewhat surreal. I loved classics since a kid; read countless histories & fictions set there, that to experience them firsthand was bliss (despite the blisters, boom, you’re welcome).

But this is the subject of a separate poem. What you get today is somewhat lighter & more whimsical 😬.

*****

Selfie Schtick 

something about me
clearly implies trust
(or an ability to fake it
photographically)

for today, on top
of Palatine Hill,
i’ve been requested
to supplant
the selfie stick
almost a dozen times

i quickly developed
my own schtick
by the second request
— a trio of American
boys who laughed
at the result

which of course
meant the joke
grew with exposure
till its inevitable
demise with a Russian
(perhaps) family 

who failed to see
the humour in having
one photo of my face
& two blurry ones
of their own four
(so poorly framed
owing to gross self
congratulation with
my cheekiness)
i neglected to include
the Vatican
in the background

02b-view-from-palatine-hill.jpg