Last week I wrote of milestones But what do I have in my mind? as the new life I started two months ago starts to show itself here and unwind?
Well, with life in the balance that's tricky but you have to start it somewhere So yes, I have milestones I've thought of which I fully intend here to share
Most are short term, a few months hence But there are long term ones there as well which 'per aspera ad astra' I need to have as optimistic I am, you can tell
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
[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
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
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
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
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
...all about me and my life in words. I write most days, carrying an ideas book around in which I capture a word snapshot of life around me. So there's a lot here about Sussex and the sea and anything else I see that inspires.
The pictures are mine too. Some taken to match a poem; some poems written to match a pic; others chosen because they work well with words written.
Jemverse is life in words. Hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoy the writing...