What a long night is this (William Shakespeare - Henry V)

My sky shall not want

An insipid, weak chinned, mealy mouthed, chicken shit sky
hangs above the acacias, not able
to make up its mind, whether to dissolve
the day or hang about...

Right now, it feels like an old television drama
the one about an old cowboy who realises
he's been living a lie. Not able
to deal with a traumatic past,
slowly coming to terms with the darkness ahead,
he's buried down, deep down...

I'm hoping he gets a happy ending - a Hollywood sunset,
credits around the corner. Wave on wave
of credits. All wrapped up in a friendly package.

O for a muse of fire.

Enigmatic and distant figures
connected in age and distance
mirage like appear on the horizon
before me. Merge. Twist. Spiral.

It's dark now, outside, I guess.
I see reflections in the window light.
Furniture, the other contents of the room, books, plants.
I can't see me in the reflection,
but I can sense I'm there...here.
A trick of the light, I'm invisible. 

Will it never be day?

I glimpse long ago mistakes and try to shake them off.
This is not a television drama. Nothing like it.
Not a dream. Nothing like an illusion.
No matter how I wish it so.

Too many confrontations as the darkness finally arrives
and hides the chicken shit sky.

A new day is coming. 

I would it were morning.

(2003)

The love you take is equal to the love you make (The Beatles)

Having been accused of some grumpiness and curmudgeonliness lately, I wondered this morning, as I pootled along in the Purdsmobile school wards (it's a 40 minute commute so I can ruminate until the cows come home) about the things that make me smile and feel a lovely warm rosy glow at the moment.
Here's five!!

1 Opening the fridge at work and finding milk for my tea. It's something I can sometimes take for granted (when nothings there, there's hell to pay from the staff!).

2 Music: 40 minutes is easily enough time for a CD. This morning it was The Best Of The Guess Who and I sang and beamed and bopped along to American Woman, No Sugar Tonight, Bus Driver, Share The Land and the rest.

3 The sunrise and the hills on my right as I drive in. The view just after Waipawa from a rise in the road is particularly wonderful.

4 Painting the house. WOAH! "Hold up", I hear you say - "You hate painting, Wozza!" Well yes I'm not a huge fan but...but - I love the new paint look. We're painting the house at present and getting rid of the yucky yellow and replacing it with a soothing neutral cream is a great feeling.

5 SWMBO: I watched a great TED talk recently (it'll be on this week's Jewels For The Thirsty blog so watch out for it) about how happiness is aligned to your key relationship. Thanks LOML!

Valentine's day is over (Billy Bragg)

February the 14th.

A tricky day for a bloke.

If you remember Valentine's Day but she doesn't?

If she remembers Valentine's Day but you don't?

As the Beatles tell us - It's gonna be a drag... Misery!

Last Sunday was the day. SWMBO made me pancakes for breakfast and I wrote this in the fresh concrete while making a pergola over my deck outside the ART room.

Love and peace - Wozza

Travelling trust across the new day (Roy Harper)

One of the first things I do with my classes is introduce myself. A no brainer you say? 

Well yeah, but I take some time to show via photos who I am in terms of my family, my blogs, my teaching career and my interests.

I have no idea if it means anything to my students or not but I found myself doing it today in a slightly detached way which scared me a little.

A photo of four generations of my family is one I especially love - I've featured it a few times on this blog. I think I needed to preserve some space around the photo. I found myself telling my students that the only people still alive in the photo and my brother and me.

It felt like a vaguely awkward moment.

I scooted on quickly to the next photo because I'd maybe revealed too much.

How much is too much? Were they in fact a tad uncomfortable or was it just me? It was a kinda 'yes' but kinda 'no' too.

It was a weird moment. A moment of trust when you hold your breath and hope.

This post has two photos that my cousin Christine sent me recently that I'm sharing in the same spirit of trust and hope. 

I didn't remember anything about the one of me - I must have sent it to her when I was a teenager, while living at Ramelton Road in Auckland. 

[BTW - my T shirt is a Wozza original, a screen printed Apple with Ringo's The Beatles drum legend from my own design while listening to Bowie's Hunky Dory (it has dye on the label!) and I'm holding the cup for winning the 1976 MAGS badminton title.]

This other one of my paternal grandparents was taken on their sixties tour of England.

I love both photos for their surprise and their brilliant capturing of a unique moment.

Love and peace - Wozza

Ride the train, I'm far from home (David Bowie)

First week back in Nu Zild has been weirder than usual!

Hot hot weather, moving all the furniture back into the house, school camp, driving a car again to work, rehanging pictures, and...um... back to work have all contributed to shock the system.

Amongst all that I also found time to weed my zen garden and plan the sail that will go over my new deck to ART. Yes - that's right - a new deck - splendiferous in extremis it is too!

Here's a picture or three:

Only minor fly in the ointment is a sore right arm/hand sustained in a stupid accident before I went to the UK - hot tip - don't try and stop a big log from rolling away, just let it go! 

Means I'm wearing a brace after getting a dose of cortisone from the doc last week. Makes nailing and digging and general handyperson acts difficult. 

Difficult. Not impossible. So, yeah. We'll see how I go.

Love and peace - Wozza

Life's a flutter (The Unthanks)

Weird.

A few days ago I was in London - cold outside and loving it - about 5 degrees - walking to Upper Street along the busy north London streets - dodging other pedestrians - checking for dog poos on the street - thinking about traffic and what gallery we may be visiting via Angel - enjoying an English breakfast tea and apricot danish at Caffe Nero.

As I write, it's a few days later and I'm in rural New Zealand - stinking hot outside (and inside) - about 31 degrees today and hating it - teaching English classes - thinking about the 40 minute drive back to Waipukurau after work - enjoying a mocha from Bay Expresso on the way.

They could be on different planets rather than opposite ends of the same planet.

I like both but the difference being: when I'm in NZ/Waipukurau I miss London and all it has to offer; when I'm in London I don't miss NZ/Waipukurau.

Love and peace innit - Wozza