Stardust of mine
Of lives entwined
The passage of time
Does not diminish.
Yet as we return to the earth
Incorporated into its majestic rhythms
The circle of life
Unassuaged
Continues.
Our energies sublime
Radiant in our spring and summer
Gradually fade
Through autumn and winter.
And our journey
From this life
To the next
Whatever lies beyond the veil…
Our next
Glorious adventure
Awaits!
2021. Ah, This was the year that was… Propaganda over policies Power over principles Pandemic over protection. A Whittling away of democracy Lack of accountability Politicians playacting Where shadowed maestros play the tune That we all dance to. A corrupted system Orchestrated by robber barons of old made new With graft now unashamedly done in public The old boys protected at every turn. Falsehoods and fallacies overtake truth as myth The cult of me over the community of we Avarice prostrated as good Elitism and entitlement rule And we stay in indentured servitude Service industries A so called gig economy A mockery Of what is just and true. With blatant fascism and racism Now proudly on display Drumbeats of war to distract us Talk continues to be cheap Deaths in custody continue unabated A national woman’s movement Decrying subjugation, rape, their hurt Cheerily do-opted and then ignored A web of lies spun from every orifice While men in power positions continue to escape their rightful day in court. The disabled remain invisible A footnote consigned to oblivion Our wealth before their health Swept away A dirty secret ignored. The continual demise of biodiversity A clock ticking down on the climate Code red, klaxons blaring Unheard. What did we learn? For the fires that swept through our nation will surely return And all the co-branding of resilience The isolationism from our global brotherhood Where we ignore wave upon waves of new virulent pandemics That beat incessantly on others shores It will mean nought. For what lies ahead of us? Will we see that the bleakness of 2021 Was but a child's game? And bring to bear a new reality That we can no longer spin away Our truth will be to wish To plead That it was the previous year Where destiny can be prevented Where there is time to change The course of what lies ahead. What did we really learn? Ah, 2021. It was the year that was.
Oh, craven shadow Can you draw your eyes away And fix your gaze? Can you ignore that In front of you? A truth In its fierce intensity Demanding your attention Refusing to go away. The inevitable is finally Leaking out Of the locked box You’ve squirrelled away Oozing out From cracks and crevices To show you Your enduring shame. Oh, craven shadow A cancer that has been eating At your soul Invisibly doing its damage Your suit of armour helpless As your rotting corpse Decomposes A stench proceeding you Growing stronger More noticeable Each and every Passing day. And even though You control the airways And set a nation’s agenda Some truths are too big To be contained And this truth is one That must be told Your slights of hand Cannot distract from this day. There must be consequences For those that shamed And also, what of justice For those silenced For the depravities On bodies soiled For those whose very souls Have fragmented Living quiet lives burdened Lives full of shame Tortured lives Extinguished Oh, craven shadow Time for truth Your truth The victim’s truth To finally have Their day.
Silence sits uncomfortably between us
It’s tangible presence
Full of foreboding
And dampening our ability
To share the moment.
Silence sits uncomfortably between us It’s tangible presence Full of foreboding And dampening our ability To share the moment. Staring into nothingness My fidgeting hands Awkwardly placed Time now to draw a breath To take a leap of faith To reach across that infinite chasm Of time and space Of my mind Of my own making. And just as suddenly That simple gesture Of clasping hands Causes the weight of the world To contract To diminish. A connectedness again With the universe Reignites And that ache in my heart Grows smaller Though in the background I feel its still there A penance for too long away. Goodbye silence I’m home again.
It began with a whisper An almost imperceptible murmur An uncomfortableness stirred That could be heard faintly In the breeze. At first we ignored it That annoying irritant We rose above it Reassured by our moral superiority. But the noise became louder Impossible to ignore Drowning out all rational thought As it inflamed all in its anger. Nothing now left but cinders Yet I hear more whispers In the breeze.
We live lives of fallacy.
Sleepwalking. Oblivious.
Indentured slaves.
We live lives Of fallacy Sleepwalking Oblivious Indentured slaves Endlessly Monotonously Going around and around The hamster wheel Powering someone else’s Flame. Parroting those Surrounding us Their diatribe Lulled by ignorance Sweet Lullabies Deadening blows Leaving no visible marks As we gorge Leftover morsels Their seductive charms Brainwashed and Blissfully unaware As we are Inevitably trampled Ground down To dust. Marionettes Pulled to and fro By dispassionate puppeteers Elites With a system rigged Unfair to most Stark disparity Their right of birth To maintain the status quo Intent to fulfil Every privileged desire. Time removes Unstitches The invisible strings That bind consciousness Unbidden thoughts Seep though I sense My surrounds With newly opened eyes I start To spot Needless disparity Injustices all around My mind It does Cause me to pause To assimilate These hidden tapestries No longer Beyond my Grasp. I see The world as if anew Layer upon layer of Nameless institutions Politicians Protecting Power and inequity Revulsion Fills my core How have we Allowed this To become our society? How could Our apathy Be so great? So many remain Cocooned in false narratives Playing another’s Game. It’s time To take a stand Break the chains The bonds that bind To protect What remains of Our land To stand up for those More invisible Than you or I To break the shackles On our minds Regardless of consequences To take a leap of faith And act As if our Very lives Depend on it For they surely do. Come. Do your worst.
Two ideologies intertwined
Who perceive themselves as poles apart
Meet in righteousness indignation
Staring down in the safety of distance
Dismissing the other
As too radical for a country
Torn asunder.
Two ideologies intertwined Who perceive themselves as poles apart Meet in righteousness indignation Staring each other down With the safety of distance Dismissing the other As too radical for a country That's been torn asunder. A country where Thousands needlessly die each night In agonising pain alone With machines switched off A silence too familiar To be quickly reused again. But in truth These two pillars of democracy Of boundless virtue Were never so far apart Unrecognising that special interests Hold them in thrall Their opinions bought and paid for Many years ago. The Grand Old Party To its shame has abandoned its proud legacy The party of Lincoln Moved to unrecognisable extremes Paranoia now its staple Paying its dues to special interests Of what was once considered the extremist right. And the Democrats Sidestepping the pleas of its base Unsurprisingly fails again A party who has become Due to its genuflections A pale and mediocre simulacrum Representing the same rich constituents The allure of money Intoxicating power of the Establishment Oblivious to the needs of the many. What of those who were proudly proclaimed around the world The protection of the huddled masses The tired The poor The wretched refuse washed up upon its gallant shores? Those who for decades have been ignored More precarious year after year There is no place for them Those perceived as a rounding error That ignores all math On silent lips Once more.
My weary body seeks rest and subsidence
As I slouch on a chair in hard found solitude
My weary body seeks rest and sustenance
As I slouch on a chair in hard found solitude
Wiping tears from my glasses
Thinking at all those beautiful people we lost
So unfairly
This pandemic filled year.
A frenzied 12 months like no other now behind us
My team of vital workers
Beavering away until the last moment
Their remote location
The only saving grace.
Now it’s time for me to finish my cookies
And brush them off my beard
To swig the last of my full-cream milk
And fulfil my yearly obligations
Delighting children of this world.
Though some presents won’t be delivered
And for that I am full of pain
For the joy of Christmas morning
Will also be tinged with sadness for many
With an aching emptiness of lost ones
Anguish and deep longing in their soul.
Merry Xmas
Ho, ho, ho.
Sitting alone
Basking in silence
Before the break of dawn
The taste of coffee lingering
Self-prescribed daily rituals
Satisfied and saluted
Once more.
Sitting alone Basking in silence Before the break of dawn The taste of coffee lingering Self-prescribed daily rituals Satisfied and saluted Once more. While in my mind Thoughts unbidden swirl Of today’s potential Tempests of yesteryear And future dreams return Chaotically mixing with The curse of social media Engineered feeds SHOUTING Injustices of this world Enticing Distractions Catching myself And taking a breath For its time to brush all aside Calm the eddies of my mind For its time to take advantage Of this perfect opportunity To Galvanise myself And focus. While slumber is deep in the house Life affords me A great gift The opportunity... The joy to determine my future To chart today’s great adventure And write.
We are at risk of losing everything that we hold dear. Before our eyes record temperatures on the rise year on year.
An animated short film on Australia’s climate change denial and the importance of moving away from fossil fuels and embracing a renewable future.
An animated climate change video that tries to connect with the audience. History will not judge us favourably until we stop obfuscating and set aggressive goals to reduce carbon emissions. Accounting tricks and woefully inadequate Paris Targets do us all a disservice. Blatantly wrong strategic choices on a gas led recovery are going to come back to haunt us unless do the right thing.
“EU set to deny gas power plants a green investment label”
No doubt I’m preaching the converted – but I hope you enjoy the video which is best seen with the sound on.
#climatechange #climateemergency #climatecrisis #climate
This animated video tries to capture the audience emotionally rather than through facts and figures. It focuses on the potential of extinction of some of our most beloved animals.
I think I’ll keep coming back to this video and adding additional scenes that bring this important issue to life.
Climate Fool Australia’s emission’s denial We are at risk Of losing everything that we hold dear. Before our eyes record temperatures on the rise year on year. Undeniable. Extended bushfire seasons, more severe. Droughts and floods now our constant companion. Irrefutable. This climate crisis threatens the very existence of the symbols that define our nation. Koala extinction in NSW by 2050. Can you imagine a future without them? Is this the Australia we want to leave our children and our children’s children? Will the destruction of our country be our legacy? There is a way. Carbon emission targets that reduce emissions by 50% in the next decade and zero targets by 2050 can take us back from the brink. We can make a difference. If we stop listening to the lies of polluters mining, coal, oil and gas industries with their insatiable greed. Politicians at their beck and call ignoring science with outrageous lies and slights of hand to get money, to stay in power, regardless of the consequences. There is hope. We can chart a path using renewable energy. If we act now to stop the destruction of our lucky country.
The Spoken Word 