WHAT'S APPEARING IN 'THE DISAPPEARING'

Big thanks to Red Room Company for selecting a poem of mine for their upcoming downloadable app. The Disappearing. This app. allows a traveller, wanderer, nomad, swagman, low-plains drifter, someone riding the rattler, or indeed a poetry tragic to access a poem on particular places in NSW. So, theoretically, if I'm in the gorgeous hinterland west of Byron Bay, somewhere between Clunes and Dunoon, I could download a poem on that area (if one's been penned). A cool idea, huh? My poem centres on the memorable, yet tainted NSW mallee town, Ungarie, which I drove through towards the end of 2011. It is an expanded version of Poem #3 on this blog. LJ, November 26 2012.

THE BAG CALLS

It was great to put the gloves on and get back to the heavy bag after too many lazy hours. Time to lose some weight and get a bit fitter. Too much reading and writing, not enough weaving and jabbing.

LJ, November 23 2012.

OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES

On Saturday morning, I spoke with a Syrian security guard in Wollongong who is deeply concerned about his uncles and aunts in Homs, who he sees as 'sitting ducks', with the military continuously attacking their city. He wants his family members to flee to Lebanon. Only days ago, one of his uncles saw 6 children killed right in front of him. He wishes his family were with him in Australia. All he could do was be hopeful. I hoped his family would be alright. What could I say? Looking a little like a young Robert DeNiro, he sat quietly with his Koran and Greek/Egyptian worry beads, after I spoke with him. Outside where he sat, the day was blindingly bright with whirling lorikeets and gulls and men applauding one another during a nearby cricket match.

LJ, 19 November 2012.

I LOVE A BARGAIN

I picked up Jacknife Lee's third solo album (from 2007) for $2 at good old JB Hi-fi at Macarthur Square, Campbelltown, last Wednesday arvo. It was reduced from $28. Gold! And it's a cracking album. I saw Jacknife at Vibes on a Summer's Day in Bondi back around 2000 - he was brilliant. LJ, November 16 2012.

POEM #23

CAMDEN SPORTS CLUB

a bloke watching the cricket turns to another bloke watching the cricket says, you gotta wonder how many no balls the umpire misses. an old bloke with a form guide waits for a hamburger with the lot and a life with a little bit more to it. outside, the day is big bang bright. a woman in her sixties aims at a small white sun, then rolls a black planet, as if god during the birth of our universe.

LJ, November 14 2012.

POEM #22

TWISTS N TURNS

After printing reports,
Acrobat quit unexpectedly
on my Mac screen.

I wonder whether
the circus will
be leaving town.

LJ, 13 November 2012.

POEM #21

BOHEMIAN CATASTROPHE

We scan
airbnb for
Parisien
accommodation.

Anne-Laure
(a bit Debbie Harry)
writes of her
Marais studio,

you have to 
understand
it's not 
bobo.

LJ, November 12 2012

REBORN IN THE USA

He's nowhere near perfect (there's always the questionable foreign policy), but I'm stoked Obama is back. I'm also glad Bo (his Portugese Water Dog) is back (I have a Field Spaniel and a Cocker Spaniel, so share Obama's enthusiasm for energetic medium-sized dogs).

I couldn't have coped in the myopic, constricting world Mitt Romney would've created. Let's hope Obama can do something about the economy and the 8% unemployment. And everything else in between.

LJ, 8 November 2012.

J(USTICE) P(EACE)

Two recent articles from John Pilger - over at his website - are essential reading. He condemns Julia Gillard in the wake of her being declared a feminist hero, questions our recent sales of uranium to India and worries about a future attack on Syria and Iran at the hands of NATO (whilst linking this present time to 1962 and its tension between Russia and the USA). I await what he has to say on the outcome of the US election. He is no fan of Obama. LJ, November 2012.