Stories from ‘The Dreaming Sites’

Emily Kame Kngwarreye
loved colour with a passion
with acrylic paint to canvas
like it was going out of fashion
and in eight years to an end of life
she captured there ‘the dreaming’
three thousand plus enlightenments
and each with hidden meaning

The expression of an elder
of the Anmatyerre people
it matters not our ignorance
and understanding feeble
For unless we were indigenous
we could not hope here to confide
so as it is these myriad paintings
to most of us their meanings hide

Yet still we are presented
with her legacy of style
enriched beyond mere words
which we could conjure in a while
for here is simple beauty
captured with sincerity
presented for enrichment
where we see what each will see

©Jemverse

[Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910-1996) was introduced to acrylic paint in her late 70s. For the next eight years she painted over 3000 canvases, approximately one each day. As an elder of the indigenous Anmatyerre people in the Utopia region of central Australia, Kngwarreye was a custodian of the women’s ‘dreaming sites’. Each of her paintings captured an artistic expression of this role containing stories that only those who have been initiated through Anmatyerre ceremony can know or understand. The rest of us non-indigenous people can only imagine].

Photo – Emily Kame Kngwarreye painting ‘Earth’s Creation 1’ in the Utopia region of Central Australia in 1994

Things to do on hot days I

Went down to Al Campo
the heat just like abroad
somewhere on the Continent
for brunch between a word

Conversation with my children
well, most of them at least
with a cold beer on the side
and late breakfast for a feast

The sunshine was most welcome
a good day for a break
decided on that yesterday
and made the choice to take

So I will make the most of this
exquisite amongst days
until the closing embers
of the sunshine’s warming rays

For days like this are special
so advantage one must take
as they are made for memories
to forge and dreams to make

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

[Al Campo is a cafe bar in Brighton, UK]

Awakening

Still dark when I wake
to stumble from slumber
the light yet a good while away
Cold water to waken
from dreams I’d mistaken
for what was the start of the day

©Jemverse

Photo – Wattpad (via Google)

Back in Sublime

So, when days tantalise
and it’s still a bit cold
‘Cos the warmth hasn’t yet come our way
And March sees some colour
with early Spring there
Evident on each sunny day

My thoughts turn to summer
and dream a few dreams
with a nod to that halcyon time
For the promise is there
very close on the air
when I will be back in sublime

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

Moments of sublime

I went walking on a hilltop
though I wasn’t really there
And then I was beside the sea
with toes in water bare

I went climbing on a mountain
though it was I think a dream
As really I was looking back
at places I had been

Photos captured on my Mac
of memories in time
Providing for nostalgia
for moments of sublime

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

Sixteen hundred

Part 20 of 20 in ‘The Aegean Shores’ series

And of the sixteen hundred
just one-thirty occupied
Five this week we’ve been to
many more of which we’ve spied

Corfu, Kefalonia
Crete, Santorini, Rhodes
Five islands we’ve just been to
Though Greece, of course, has loads

It’s been a superb holiday
and though we’re homeward bound
we’re far from disappointed
with the joy there that we found

©Jemverse

[This is part 20 of a 20-part series charting a seven-day cruise with Tui from 11-18 August 2017, travelling from London to Corfu, then Kalamata (Greece), Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Piraeus (Greece), Kefalonia, Corfu and London, some 3,870 nautical miles]

Malaga I

Boarding our Dreamliner
Thompson did us proud
For we had extra legroom
and the engines weren’t too loud
The outbound flight as always
thrilled us to the core
England disappearing
through the window there we saw
And just two hours later
as we woke up from a snooze
The wheels touched down in Malaga
for our Iberian Treasures cruise

©Jemverse

 

[‘Malaga I’ is 2 of 14 in the Jemverse ‘Iberian Treasures’ series]

1. Departures (29/8/16)
2. Malaga I (30/8/16)
3. Gibraltar (31/8/16)
4. Gibraltar II (1/9/16)
5. All at sea (2/9/16)
6. Lounging (3/9/16)
7. Three sixty degree sea (4/9/16)
8. Vigo (5/9/16)
9. Atlantic Surge (6/9/16)
10. In from the fog (7/9/16)
11. Terracotta Rooftiles (8/9/16)
12. Lisbon 36 (9/9/16)
13. Seville (10/9/16)
14. Malaga II (11/9/16)

Lavender Nirvana

Found my lavender nirvana
down near Chichester today
A field of purple flowers
gave me heaven by the way
With intoxicating fragrance
and the sound of honey bees
There were tears of joy at just the sight
As I fell down to my knees

Brushed my fingers through the flowers
Walked between the rows
A hundred-thousand bushes
of French lavender there grows
Found my lavender nirvana
in this almost perfect place
A little slice of heaven matched
by the smile upon my face

©Jemverse

 

The not quite there

Contemplative quiet and still
now seems as good a time
to sit back here, reflective
whilst I’m feeling fine

Can’t quite put my finger on
though I’m trying hard to share
Intangible, perched on the edge
it’s not exactly there

A memory, a ‘je ne sais quoi’
I’m not quite sure you see
It’s really most frustrating
and remains a mystery

©Jemverse

Joie de vivre

Lethargy keeps on creeping in
I think it is the time of year
As we’ve had too much of winter
and although the spring is near
The cold won’t seem to leave us
and though we do have days of sun
they’re not at present warm enough
to give a sense of fun

We’ve had the trudge of winter now
for months and months it seems
But it’s getting really boring
so we need that stuff of dreams
Bring back to us that spring of step
that joie de vivre and zest
and the long warm days of sunshine
which will find us at our best

©Jemverse