These paper boats of mine are meant to dance on the ripples of hours, and not reach any destination... Rabindranath Tagore

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past...F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby

We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.
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On the way to the river are the old dormitories, used for something else now, with their fairy-tale turrets, painted white and gold and blue. When we think of the past it's the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.
--from Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale

Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.
- Joyce Carol Oates

Sunday, December 27, 2020

this peace...

MY GOODREADS REVIEW this peace

this peace by Robyn Cairns
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rob Cairns' this peace poetically highlights features of a journey we all take, either consciously or subconsciously...seeking that elusive, maybe utopian light we like to understand embodies our personal concept of peace...That peace maybe scrambled with grey and crossed wires. It may even be a little scarred with an industrial skyline or rust. But somewhere, if we take the time to notice, there is the zen glide of a pelican uplifting us and trees regenerating us. For me, Rob's journey is fragmented, halting...short poems connect loosely...The Mungo interlude seems stark, as if not quite the indulgence I expected for an ancient dreaming place...But this is Rob's journey...not mine...I borrow what is meaningful to me, and remember classrooms must have daydream windows. (After all, I am a teacher.)

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the earth may spin

through industrial skylines

but seashells
keep the ocean
in my pocket

trees
regenerate me

and
my whole world
lives
inside a drop of rain

as it should

but I wonder

is it time
to visit
Mungo

and dream
old dreams 

awhile

Friday, December 18, 2020

From Snow To Ash...


skinny, wiry-haired boy
window dreaming
of mountain music

yellow trail markers

Mt Baw Baw
Hotham
Benambra
Main Range
Munyang River
Granite Peak
Kosciusko
Perisher Valley

snow grass tussocks
sprinkled with charred leaves

Valentine Hut
With red timber walls

And in a fleeting moment
I am the man
And the child
I'm the dream
And the fulfilment

They call Mt Jagungal the crouching lion

But Jagungal looks worried
The fire is closing in

charred black leaves
twirling down
dotting the snow grass tussocks
like chocolate shards on cupcakes

walking is a workout for the senses

even if it is to 
somewhere
with no name


MY GOODREADS REVIEW
From Snow to Ash: Solitude, soul-searching and survival on Australia's toughest hiking trailFrom Snow to Ash: Solitude, soul-searching and survival on Australia's toughest hiking trail by Anthony Sharwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In a digital age, when our thoughts pinball around, walking encourages the mind to drift rather than dart. And indeed, this book is a compelling, December 2019 walk on the wild side in many unexpected ways. The physical walk involves the challenges of the Australian Alps Walking Track. But other walks excitedly intersect - a walk with related geographical and historical contexts - 2003 fires and alpine huts + a special connection with Elynn Mitchell, author of Silver Brumby + a brief walk with Wordsworth. The book is a smorgasbord of wonder for the senses, enhanced by richly crafted expression, sprinkled with humour. Who would believe that the town of Guthega's name could easily become the author's word for a range of emotions. For the 2020 pandemic-riddled reader, it even has a final, wry pass at sanitisers and toilet rolls, ironically connected to this great walk. In short, this book offers a refreshing escape from routine. A great experience!

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EVERNOTE? REVIEW (appears with a Google search)
'From Snow to Ash' documents Anthony Sharwood's challenging trek in the Australian Alps. But it offers far more than the wonder of physical survival, combatting the odds of the environment and the whims of Mother Nature. A feast of sidetracks provides subplot entertainment - from a Wordsworth acknowledgment to an Elynn Mitchell perspective (she was a champion skier) to the quirky possibilities of the alpine town of Guthega's name. On the surface, we hear the plea to save the Australian Alps. But the plea is captivatingly garnished with the many windows on Sharwood's multi-faceted personality. A book to indulge the senses and come out refreshed...and maybe a little more knowledgable. 

BOOKTOPIA REVIEW
If you are seeking a personal detailed, 'smile-by-frown', solo physical survival experience, a trek successfully completed as planned, this book is not the answer. But if you seek the novelty of human distraction, detours, a little knowledge, whimsy and humour shaping and enhancing a tough survival experience, then this book ticks the boxes and more. Sharwood's trek in the Australian Alps is as much a learning curve for the human psyche as it is a confronting attempt to become immersed in the wildness of wilderness. Childhood mountain dreams become adult reality and leave room for another attempt at embracing the whole Australian Alp experience. Save and protect the Alps for others to indulge.
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