There’s a whale off Hill 60. Buoyed by rope, net tangled she tailslaps her misfortune.
Inside there’s a man, down in her guts, foot in the loops and folds. He’s praying. But who can hear him down there?
the whales
Month: July 2022
tanka on winter
if a day is
a container for us
to be happy in
why this light that
imbues the leaden fields...?
Image: Warrawong Plaza on a bright morning recently. After Philip Larkin’s poem Days
And for music today, here’s some laid back jazz with vibe guy Bobby Hutcherson from the 1994 remaster of the 1966 album Components (Youtube).
similes
don’t you just love how along a line
there’s a word that signifies
a lit fuse spitting in a milk bottle
watch out reader stand away
this poem is about to l a u n c h
into some parallels unexpected revelatory (or dull)
fresh takes on the familiar: car-crash, swan, a vase falling floorward
do it
I'm so ready
to be arrested by
outré ways
of looking
at water
-birds &c.
Image: c/- Rijksmuseum on wikimedia commons. One of a pair of porcelain swans are small versions of the famous large porcelain birds from the Meissen porcelain factory. From 1749 onwards, the successful Paris dealer Lazare Duvaux had several pairs of similar swans fashioned into candelabra. This pair may have come from his shop. A bit of silliness inspired partly by Marianne Moore’s poem ‘No Swan so Fine‘ and this amazing construction.
And for music this morning, here’s West African (Burkina Faso) singer song-writer Amadou Balake (1944 – 2014) with Taximen (dedicated to all those drivers out there making their way through the streets of Ouagadougou ) (Youtube)
tanka — 23 July
i wrote poetry in the morning bright dew on tranquil lawns — it’s afternoon already and i’m re-writing still
Image: Night Scene, from Camping at Culburra, NSW 1937, Max Dupain and Olive Cotton, c/- State Library of NSW on Flickr.
And for music this morning, here’s American jazz dada-ist composer Raymond Scott (1908-1994) with some soothing sounds for baby vol 1 . (Youtube). Maybe start with Sleepy Time (Youtube) Yes, there’s another two volumes (!).
tanka on the first wattle bloom — July 22
still frost rules... (tho rumour is that spring’s been sussing rentals hereabouts: house-cat sea-views garden needing tlc )
Image: a coastal wattle (Acacia sophorae) on this morning’s walk. And in the Dharawal calendar (on whose unceded land this tanka was composed with respect) we are just entering time of Wiritjiribin – cold and windy time when the lyrebirds’ calls ring out through the bushland as he builds his dancing mounds to attract his potential mates.
And for music this morning, here’s Soviet-Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin with Unsent Love Letters (uncollected on Youtube but start here)
sonnet on a still life
after Dressing table self portrait, Margaret Olley, 1982
there are days — when the levity of dogs the fridge motor, the pol air chopper says there’s no quiet to be had but for this moment to which you return again and again, your familiars — blooms, a fan of feathers ovals and angles turned so the light that lines your dressing table leads to the morning over your shoulder then descends into blue, blue shadow — your cardigan, your face is awash you stare at the sun specular in glass and antelopes on a black lacquered box lost to us now, but leaping still
Image: (detail) Dressing table self portrait, Margaret Olley, 1982. A poem after Australian painter Margaret Olley‘s (1923-2011) 1982 painting which is here. Olley painted several versions of this scene over a painting career of nearly sixty years during which she focussed on colour and still life.
And for music today, in keeping with the retro funk from yesterday – here’s London based electronic producers Jungle with their May 2022 EP Goodtimes/Problemz (youtubers)
tanka on Cameron Smith’s victory at the British Open, 17 July 2022
every morning
my usual breakfast
cereal, fruit
and eighteen wild swans
lifting over the water
Image: Tho it’s still winter, the bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae) is blooming here in the suburbs. A piece in tribute to the mullet haircut of Cameron Smith, professional golfer who recently won the British Open. In case you missed it, here’s a patronising piece on Cameron from the Daily Mail – ‘you can take the boy out of Brisbane, but you can’t take Brisbane out of the boy…’
And for all those suffering in the heat, here’s some very cool retro R&B soul from New York band Nuyorican Soul with their self-titled 1997 album Nuyorican Soul (Youtubers).
a found tanka — 14 July
stopped i await her coming in the night what a treasure she watches me. I say: ‘was it you?’ and she answers...
A found tanka after Russian romantic poet Anna Akhmatova and her ars poetica poem, The Muse (1924) in belated celebration of her birthday on June 23 1889.
This daily tanka is taking a short break to catch up on some housekeeping and wander by still pools. Back in a little while.
For music this morning, here’s Portuguese fado-iste Anna Moura with her fabulously successful album Desfado (Youtube)
predictive text tanka — July 13
thistle wind up here
thistle and thunder the park
with sun sun shining
already bell park near me
I can see ringingly
Image: my image of a park near me with the thistle wind blowing. Some days you need to let the computer do what it wants…
And for music this morning, Transfigurations, recent work from five Canadian composers — Alexandre Grogg, François Vallières, Marjan Mozetich, Caroline Lizotte, and Kelly-Marie Murphy. (Sorry youtubers- looks like the whole album isn’t there yet – this search resulted in most tracks – you can also search on the composers’ names)
Here’s the promotional video of Transfigurations – and if you’re interested, here’s a piece about La Folia – the tune which underlies Alexandre Grogg’s variations, the first three tracks of Transfigurations.
at the club tanka — July 12
at the club expanse of 80s carpet we joke about my funeral — 'no poets they’ll kill the vibe'
at the bistro shared pud + icecream rosettes – how quickly the glaciers retreat to a moraine of crumbs
the roast and two wines for the woman dining alone by the window — one for him long gone remains untouched
Image: Decorative wall, The City Diggers Club, Wollongong. Diggers refers to Australian soldiers. The club still has some commemorative functions along with the poker machines and bistro.
And for music this morning, here’s US composer and vocalist Caroline Shaw with percussion group Sō with their album Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part (Youtube). Maybe start with Lay All Your Love on Me (a halting interpretation of that ABBA song) (Youtube)
Peter Frankis writes 