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Saturday, March 31, 2012

Sunday Morning Walk…

Sunday Morning Walk…

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leaning on the doorway
I watched the dawning of a new day...a Sunday
... early morning breeze my only company
fresh and mischievous it was too
teasing me to come out and play…
…Sunday morning walk
the smell of someone cooking bacon
mingles with traffic fumes and salt-laden air…
… a white cockatoo glides like a child’s kite
- the joggers and dog walkers
are already out…
… families playing in the park…
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… the morning sun is so bright
the shadows a dark contrast…
I took the new path
so few do
and I knew
that peace would be found there…
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…but I found more than I expected
a beach almond harbouring
a dozen black cockatoos
oh what a serendipitous treat!
… I crept to the shade of a nearby tree
and sat, my camera snapping away happily…
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… at the top of the beach almond
a male showed off his head crest
to a female…
… until a father & son & over exuberant mutt
walked past… and the black cockatoos took flight…
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… I continued on my way… feet deliberately slow paced
for me this was not some hurried race
I had no plans… no desire to return home
to crack a beer and watch football
… everything I needed was right here-
- well almost everything…
but let’s not go there;
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the beach was almost desert
this time of day…
I wander along the sand
leaving a message for someone else
who might wander this way…
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down the far end where so few go
I turned the rocky bend
to where my friend Bigrock sat
an eternal sentinel
watching the changing seasons
as they came and went…
… Bigrock is a focal point of my beach walks
the end where I sit
before returning to follow my footsteps home…
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always sitting surrounded by water
a rock far taller than my 4 foot 11 ¾
… but today …oh today the tide was out
further than I have ever seen…
… my walks had never coincided
with the tide at its lowest ebb…
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… and finally… finally I touched it!
I managed to walk right up to Bigrock
( well… I had to clamber inelegantly
with dress hiked up above my knees…
… why do I persist in wearing long dresses
and long hair that tangles in the sea breeze
on these jaunts of mine!)
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…but I did it… I paddled out and placed my palm
on Bigrock’s firm cool surface…
…I sighed so deep I almost cried-
- almost stopped breathing…
… perhaps I did for a heart pounding moment…
what is it about trees and rocks
earth and mountains and moving water
that draws me so….
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I was flooded by such calm
such release of energy…
… I felt lighter than the briny- sweet air
that tousled my wayward hair…
I walked away ever so slowly
filled with such an indescribable feeling
that I, poet laureate in my own soul
could not find words to describe…
Sharonlee©1/4/2012 12:58:24 PM
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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Another Random Ramble

 Another Random Ramble
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A thought came to me today as I watched the rain tumble in down in heavy squalls… …. I love the rain for that very reason, the free-flowing thoughts that seem to drift in on the fragrance of rain… … this was more a memory that a mere thought…. a delicious memory from a very troubled time in my life… … it was a year after my partner passed away… I was having trouble filling the empty spaces in my life that his absence created… I was emotionally vacant to everything but my children and the children were well and truly over my overprotective mothering my clinging need to check & recheck on their safety and well-being… Photobucket 
… as it happened I seemed to ‘collect’ people who needed nurturing, and four other adults found shelter under my motherly wings… and this helped fill some of the empty spaces… but did not soothe the inner ache I held deep inside. One night while feeding this tribe, one young man mentioned he had been given property in an inheritance, 80 acres that came with a massive shed…. 80 acres he was yet to set foot on. I felt my eyes light up. 80 acres of Mother Nature…. the thought excited me at a time when nothing else could. I suggested we go there… all of us… and he agreed a weekend trip might be fun. A weekend trip! Oh no I said… lets live there! Here his eyes lit up… but he was full of buts… but no water…no power…. No buts! We could do this I told him… we could…. so we did…. we moved to ‘The Farm. Photobucket 
…anyway….the memory…. is of the bathroom at ‘The Farm’…. the bathroom was a tin shack built by us on the outside wall of the shed…the tin had old nail holes in it & was rusty in places… I prefer to call it rustic…. there was no running water… no plumbing… just a massive big old fashioned bathtub and a copper heater with a big copper pot to boil water over a fire… … on days that began and ended with continual rain I loved nothing more than to appropriate the bathroom…. I would start the fire…. set the water heating…. and warn everyone that I would be bathing with the door open so I could see the rain. Neck deep in hot water with the fire heating more water no more than two feet from the tub… … flames dancing and leaping… I’d gaze out the door at the falling rain… hissing ‘round the trees and puddling on the earth… sigh… that was the best bathroom I ever had…. Photobucket 
 Just thought I’d share that… and here is an old poem written about that time… 

 
simple pleasures

she watched kangaroo's grazing
in the nearby pasture,
afternoon winter-sun soothing on her face
enjoying the isolation
from the modern world’s rat race,
she bent to gather sticks
to stoke the copper
already full to it's miss-shapen lid
with water pumped from a dam
that boasted three tame ducks,
she began the process
of the daily fire heated bath
and with deliberate planning
she was to be the last,
the precise moment of her escape
into the candle lit warmth of fragrances,
her pleasure
had to coincide with previously washed
and now winter-fed
sleepy children protest not
but trudge willingly to bed,
and with winter's perving feelers
chasing goosebumps along her skin
and candle shadows dancing
to flames that whisper of passions
blushing from within,
she sinks into the water's warm motherly womb
with sighing eye's that close against
fatigue and hidden pain
she rubs roughened soap lathered hands
over muscles that cry for the struggle and strain
the sudden heart breaks and anorexic sorrow
and her rain misted hopes for each tomorrow,

but the comfort of shadows flashing warmth
on the old tin walls
draws from her the aches
of life's daily toils,
restoring her with fire lapped ministrations
that release unknown urgings of energies
and the sudden desire to fill
each new tomorrow
with the simple resolution
to let go of her sorrow,1996

 Man, I wish I still write like that.
Peace & Love to All



Sharonlee©

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

I Remember the Afterglow


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Art by Sharonlee©13-Mar-12


I Remember the Afterglow


I remember how great coffee
use to taste
and how satisfying it was to breathe…

and how it felt when Love was mine
not a fragile wish
on a brittle breeze…

I remember the afterglow
how moist hot skin glides
against moist hot skin…
that gratifying moan
… oh the moan… that went soul-shiver deep…
the sweet lullaby of echoing heartbeats
that lulled me to sleep….


I still remember how it feels…
… to hold hands in winter
and make love in summer…
… how words can flow past midnight
and sighs hold back the dawn…
Sharonlee ©13-Mar-12

14-Mar-12 3:38 AM

 Art by Sharonlee

14-Mar-12 3:38 AM

3 Am … again
mind fights the need for sleep
… erratic rain falls … but does not lull the senses
into senselessness…

…soft whirring fan disturbs stale air
… decayed thoughts… rehashed emotions…
I wonder… on the whys… of life…
- more whys than what ifs
these days…

4:43 AM… day light seems a concept
for the future… or a relic of the past
shadows permeate corners seldom ventured
cobwebs connect contemplations
like strings of pearls…

mind tumbles in… caves in… discordant chaos rules
in unlit hours … hours that pass between rational thoughts
… are these my thoughts…
or do they belong to the night?

5:02 AM…  hours shift… years merge
into other years…
impermanence is has its own longevity
…soft whirring fan disturbs the stale air of a stale night
… decayed thoughts… rehashed emotions…
I wonder… on the whys… of life…
Sharonlee©14-Mar-12 5:08 AM

Change Shift….

Art by Sharonlee


Change Shift….

the day was spent-
- lingering in the shadows
for night to start it’s shift…
colors faded to musing shades
as light was leached
from the day…

…the world still turned & burned
changing shifts like changing light
night-workers greeted weary
9 to 5’s working overtime –
- wondering if this was it…
… the purpose of their
existence….
… traffic fumes and stop lights
staple daily fare…

**
night meanders on…
… past empty café’s and all night dinners
franchised burger conglomerates
open 24 hours…
… reaching out to even the midnight melancholies…

… night turns a blind eye
to events unfolding
in darkened ally and frigid park bench…
… Father Moon illuminates flashes
of blade…or  tears…. or humping rump
…. rose-red blood or crystal tear
or moonlight exposing  bare white skin…
ahh… night, he hides a multitude of sins…

a spent and hollow night
met dawn at the end
of a shadowed lane…
in silence they passed each other
as morning rain
misted…soft & fine
… right or wrong
life goes on
until the end of time……..
…. let the thoughts drift
- change shift….

Sharonlee©13-Mar-12

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Sunday Day 7 – a Week of Walking



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All poetry & photography by Sharonlee


Sunday Day 7 – a Week of Walking
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the day was a continuing disarray
of new-season-blue and ponderous grey-

- but no rain fell…
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the briny beach-breeze
that greeted me

was refreshing and playful…

the out-going tide

tumbled wave -over- foam…
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Sunday walkers strolled
with Sunday sluggishness

dragging weekend footsteps

along the sand…

… in no hurry

to reach Monday hovering on the next sunrise…
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dogs galloped along the water’s edge
seeming so carefree…

…or had they simply perfected

living in the moment

caring not for Monday ‘til Monday came…
a melting melancholy rippled across my soul-
- as families squeezed one moment from their day

… laughter rose and fell with the ebb & swell

of the tugging breeze

as it sang

a song of the sea….
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looking back a single set of footprints
gave witness to my passage through time

too soon washed away

by the receding tide…

but I smiled

for they had been there

those footsteps of mine

they had followed my path

and symbolised

- my ‘living-in-the-moment –time’
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Sharonlee©11-Mar-12

Friday, March 9, 2012

Day 6- Saturday - A Week of Walks

Day 6
So it seems I found another place to walk after all, though I did have to cheat a little and catch the bus over the two hills into Airlie Beach town… then I walked around the bay there, through the park and to the markets….
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Day 6
Markets between the Mountains & the Bay
…the ambiance here is a lifestyle I could live
open faces… honest smiles
colors and scents that makes one
feel alive…
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… soft rock ballads danced
in and out of laughter & chatter
getting louder as I walked
until I came across
a guy belting out tunes…
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I sat awhile
gazing ‘round
breathing the atmosphere…
… it almost seemed as if some songs
were meant for me… hidden messages
from the cosmos
but some songs are just like that
aren’t they…


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I stopped to look over some fresh sprouts
communing with the funky young sprout-grower…
…tasting the various sprouts as we chatted
then bought a mixed punnet of the ones I liked
my children & I had grown sprouts in water
many years ago-
-I think I should start again…
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sprouts@biolicious.com.au

I asked him if I could take a photo of his display
explaining that it was for a blog
I was doing on 7 days of walking
and he agreed, on the condition I mention his business…
and went on to tell me about a wonderful hiking track
not far away…
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the young man selling and making didgeridoos
was very friendly too…
… he too told me of another walking track
and a place called Coral Bay that I have not visited before…
I gave him the same explanation
I gave the sprout grower… about my seven-day-walking-blog
and he too agreed to have photos taken…
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I rested on the beach for a while
drinking strong coffee from a takeaway cup…
two young boys practiced
throwing cast nets
as nearby seagulls watched and waited, hopefully…
the sea breeze blew a dragonfly my way
and he too rested a while….
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wandering on some more I bought an avocado for a dollar
and some fresh lemonade lemons
and with my last $2 treated myself to two bracelets
at a $1 each…
I could have bought more
but the $50 I had tucked away
was still sitting under my laptop…
I’d forgotten to grab it on my way out…
ooops… now I’ve given away the spot
I hide my ‘play money’
though usually there is seldom more than $10 there…
and it seldom gets used for ‘play’
usually eaten up by necessities
like bread and milk…
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so that was my Saturday
the bay was beautiful & breezy
the mountains ancient and steadfast behind me
and the markets that sat between, every Saturday
was a colourful eclectic display…
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Sharonlee©10-Mar-12
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Thursday, March 8, 2012

Day 5 Friday Walk

Day 5 Friday Walk
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strange how some days are thought-full days;
no underlying reason… no sudden change
… simply filled more with soul-thoughts …
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.. I have always followed my own path-
- as much as life will let me
looked to my own sunset
when preconceived notions
and social restrictions allowed me…
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I have always found comfort & solace
in the unbleached beauty of the land-
- when man made edifices do not block the view…
and always warmly greet
flowers of every hue….
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I think my own thoughts
even though they are often
ridiculed…
and dream my dreams, knowing
few will come true….
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but if I keep planting one foot in front of the other
at least I’m getting somewhere….
and who knows what I might see
along the way….
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Sharonlee©9-Mar-12
My Friends…. I think I have to stop here at day 5… I think I’ve shown you all there is to see…. post any more would just be reshowing you all the same things… but rest assured I will continue with my morning walks…. it’s what I do lol
Peace & Love

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

A Week of Walks - Day 4 Thursday 8-Mar-12

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Day 4 Thursday 8-Mar-12
morning meditation by the bay
clouds hang heavy

in muted shades of silver-grey…
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rippled water a placid hue
merging soft greens and faded blue…
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seagulls float on gentle northerlies
that caress my cheeks as I slowly, deeply breath
in rain-scent
rain-scent and the saltwater aroma

of the sea…

high tide and the bay is still

my steps are unhurried as my senses fill

I drift along with an easy-going breeze

as I set my thoughts and memories free
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never do I tire of this vista-
- sea & mountains in an almost perfect blend

floating islands on the north horizon

… I simply long to share it with a friend

for even paradise can be lacking

when every step one takes is taken alone

and every house is just a dwelling

… when my heart has nowhere to call home…

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Sharonlee©8-Mar-12

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