Category: Dreaming

Rust Wreaks

On By cjx07sterIn Art, Australia, DreamingLeave a comment

IMG_5375Love the feel of iron to the touch. It’s genetic for sure.  You touch it’s cool metal and watch it shine or glow. You feel the temperature, so slow to rise and catch your own. Heft the weight of it and understand it’s hardness for something mind bending and banging down wrought your Imagination. When it comes to rust though, it’s the weather and age that starts it’s decline.  A red mirage of it’s strength remains.

Remember machine how you art rust and unto rust you must return. Long forgotten machinery. Sitting there, with no oil, no attention, and no care.  The machine’s work is gone.  It’s lonely there, rusting slowly to a death of red.

Red rust is the outback of Australia, how the oceans rusted bad back before it all began, where the watery iron ions sat waiting and came out as red dirt for the land to occupy. A land occupied by iron tools on a red horizon full of flakes of past imaginings, past hopes, past dreams.

How my mind feels like that steel trap, which one day will lose it’s sparkle and spring. Which one day will be there rusting in spots and flaking off into the dirt of the past, for others to tread all over.

How my mind is a field of red rusty dirt just waiting for outback rain ready to bring sparkle and surprise to an ancient wandering.

— cjs – jan – 2013

Sea’Scape

On By cjx07sterIn Dreaming, Love Story2 Comments

The gravity of the massive earth sucked us on our towels into the sand of  the beach.  Our wet skin and shivering arms in the sunlight for the lifeguard to see.  Out of the seawater, streaming green seaweed locks of hair in cascades of ringlets down the side of her face.  An hour of afternoon we lay there and lazily swam from time to time aware of each others metaphoric selves. Lay pressed our arms on crushed sea shells with small sharp pricks. There was a cool breeze blowing across the bay and the scheme of things.

“when will you go back ?” I asked

“soon, I’ll go back and see how the ocean is doing”

“It’s too heavy here for you ?”

“Yes, the sky pushes down on me .. that part is tiring..”, she said.

“Everyone is looking at you… Not surprising really.. by the way it was fun !”

“I might just shift under that umbrella — do you mind ? – The sun is too strong”

“I thought of a poem about you.. want to hear it ?”

“Only if it is about home then. Ok ?”

whenever the sea belle sings

and the seaweed slings

in squeaks of massive waves

I hear your lovely voice

in the noisy shells of time

and seagulls

quark your never never name

“I love sea shells like that..” I said.

I’m Alarmed about using Calendars

On By cjx07sterIn DreamingLeave a comment

I’ve got a couple of days left till 21st December, but the date on the modern calendar may become irrelevant when the earth as we know it may end on 21st, like the last day.  But I am so used to missing whole days, crossing date lines and travelling across time zones, as usual, I will be in the air at 38,000 feet watching movies while all this happens.

What exactly will happen ? Mayans and Sumerians seem not too consistent about the potential impact.  A rogue planet, meteor ? What’s it to be ?… If it is on one astronomical timer, then who set the timer ? God doesn’t fool around with calendars and who works in eternal timers and so it really is indeterminate when it is going to happen.  We just don’t know.

Speaking of timers, I stopped using alarms, I’m always changing them.  Instead I progressed to using timers.  Yes..  I’ve found a 5 1/2 hour timer is the most useful device.  Most things that you have to remember to do, happen in around 5 and half hours time from when you think of them.  The 5 1/2 hour timer is just perfect for sleep and other things. Independent of time zone and hotel room wake up call calculations, just set a timer to say how much sleep you should get.  If you wake up early, and see 1 hour to go, you don’t feel so bad. If you get to bed early, you wake up early.  It’s a great advance using a timer [readily available on an iPhone] than an alarm in an uncertain time zone.

So the Mayan calendar did not have any alarm written at the end of it, so I’m not alarmed about it wrapping it’s long number around on Saturday 22.  Saturday 22nd is our 33 anniversary !!  A special moment when I married my girl, who although she keeps calendars, doesn’t mind living with a guy on relative time.

I Lion King

On By cjx07sterIn Dreaming, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

They laughing point in wonder, when the truck coming sunup and sun-downer.

Each day rolling and stumbling over the quick earth.  Man paths criss cross over my kingdom all over, all directions, like incessant searchlights, like the bright bright tracker light at night. His swinging arm fast left and right from the tracker seat.   It’s an old seabed of time covered in grass and acacia bush and other plants I don’t really know the names of.  I don’t bother  with the plants, more a meat eater myself, and it has to be fresh mind, no more than a couple of days lying in the sun.  Usually I don’t worry, if I don’t get to the kill in time, well there are others to finish things off. We’re all hungry and today has looked promising, but nothing…  Everything this morning was good and fast and clever, and I guess we just have run out of luck.  I am getting a bit old sure enough, but that is not the issue.  No.. It’s the leg really… bastard…. My fault really.  Getting a bit old, but then I tried to get in on the hunt for a small buffalo, and of course, messed it up.  Should have left it to the girls.  They would have had him.  Instead we all go hungry, and I am here sitting on a lame leg with hurt pride.

Still yesterday we finished off the young elephant.  Not much left of him now, since the young cubs and their mum finished off the remains.  Something strange about the trunk though.  Couldn’t eat it.  Perhaps the calf was sick.  Not sure.  Told the young fuzzies,” leave the trunk for the buzzards.”

They’ve arrived.  Took their time to find us.  My lioness’ were a bit clever for them, led them off the usual track for a bit.  But Sally with the spotlight is too good.  Sally has been around, and she watches the other animal kind, who of course if you know are a dead giveaway for a kill. Sitting back in the shadows of the game.  But there Sally was, sitting on the front of the truck in the tracker seat…  So sure of her self and her triumph in finding us all.  The newbies are sitting in the back seats, all eyes and cameras clicking.  Somewhat scared of the whole thing.  I sit there in the spotlight though.  I’ve had enough for the day really.  It’s the leg, a back one.  I can walk ok, but don’t ask me to spend a lot of energy all at once now.  The dust and cool earth is kinder at night.  I’ll wait here a bit.  Perhaps the females will get something soon.  I have an idea about the mountain, but then that is at least 5 miles away across the plain.  Still the spotlight shines.  The newbies are taking snaps with their cameras and phones.  The driver is explaining how life is out here.  He knows a lot really, too much, it’s more than a game to this guy.  He is a hunter, out to show he is smarter than any of us.  Which he is.  No question.  He know’s his place.  Never had to use the gun.  Never even taken it out of the case in anger.  But we become celebrities, the combination of Sally and Terestrius, the driver … it’s too much.

The girls of the pride had caught up, fantastic hunters, but getting lean and a bit mean after no real kills for a day or so.  Everything was quiet really, with a bit of a buzz in the truck with the newbies, glad to have got to see us all.  I looked over at them.  The girl teenager in the middle of the truck looked away.  A little frightened perhaps.  Seeing me up close and personal after all this anticipation. Sally was still grinning a bit in the tracker chair out front.

Sally flick’s off the searchlight, and the drive off looking for the others.

Yes tonight, there won’t be any rest for us.  We will be gone, and walking most of the night.  I really don’t feel like it.  It’s the leg really, but if I wait, what will happen ?  Won’t one of my brother’s sons younger and faster, take his chance ?  He will kill me for sure ?  Take his chance for the pride.  A good pride really but then again, only one can be king.  Still I am not done yet.  I will be miles away with the rest of them, up in the mountains before dawn and seeing what the light without the tourist trucks will bring.  The light of a new hungry day looking down on the criss crossed tracks across my kingdom.