tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25587557783617412622024-02-02T09:50:49.565-08:00OrdishwordsLouisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-51963616983237154592012-12-27T04:22:00.001-08:002013-01-25T11:12:28.182-08:00At sea, in sound, in silence<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>For Bob</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I knew you
in the deep soft silences</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
between the
staggered chimes and tocks and ticks<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
of all those
clocks you lived with, tended, wound.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I don’t recall
the room, only the sound<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
and
unexpected closeness, which was odd,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
coming after
weeks cooped up, on board.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We sailed a
thousand ocean miles together<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
shared a shifting
deck, night watch, bad weather;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
led a fading
wake across the Channel;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
found wild
wind off Africa, that funnelled<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
strong and
warm between volcanic crags.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We stirred
up phosphorescence, felt its magic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our courses
crossed. I trust we both have marked<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The point of
intersection on a chart.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-65272000543196800332012-12-18T11:07:00.001-08:002012-12-19T08:59:25.127-08:00Christmas Stills<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tinsel
and lights turn this grey-lidded month <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Starry-eyed,
sparkly-cheeked, made up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Santa’s
bounty fuels children’s thoughts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As
they make lists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> This is the time
that sorts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
planners, well-prepared and organised<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From
panickers, last-minute-ers, who sigh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As
they queue up to post late cards, in bursts,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remembering
only those who sent one first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For
some, a missing card, or gift-wrapped box<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brings
to mind an absent love, one lost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Gift-garlanded,
the costly feast approaches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Relatives
draw near in cars and coaches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
wise know joy and pain will surely strike<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Not
on demand, at church, but on the quiet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe
in the kitchen, uninvited:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Where
sheer force of family-reunited<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stuns
the in-laws, tensions marriage ties<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Til
something snaps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 72.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 72.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Good
cheer loosens lies,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Springs
secrets, opens wounds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 108.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No
wonder all <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Find
reason to escape: to text, to call,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To
walk the dog, to smoke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 108.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> To find release,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We look
up to the stars and search for peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-42317534416873708782012-12-08T10:45:00.002-08:002012-12-19T09:07:28.503-08:00Mapping Myself<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Why, I have
forgotten much of my life,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
what went before. All those scenes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
on beaches,
in parks or foreign cities,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
those
unfathomable entanglements <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
with people.
Great flats of my past<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
are
deforested.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sometimes,
catching moments<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
of a film I’ve
seen, or re-reading a poem, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I re-ink the
place where it struck me <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
before, the
same cells responding,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
forming a
known part of me, <o:p></o:p><br />
briefly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-11188774796515801042012-11-28T14:03:00.000-08:002012-12-07T01:21:29.373-08:00Nurture your creativity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLZPw8M99gYIE0e_MjK7ykK5pmZHhY4EApRdUxU-3G8EOJuFoKZ44ML39abdz2QVFV8wGMVN-nxZLO4yK_MaI894f1yhsoHMMaQn9o1cEp3EBFQ6-qAYrg9GbI7eH4JnV82bittRUeTc/s1600/poetry+in+practice.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLZPw8M99gYIE0e_MjK7ykK5pmZHhY4EApRdUxU-3G8EOJuFoKZ44ML39abdz2QVFV8wGMVN-nxZLO4yK_MaI894f1yhsoHMMaQn9o1cEp3EBFQ6-qAYrg9GbI7eH4JnV82bittRUeTc/s320/poetry+in+practice.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Here's a simple model I came up with to help with nurturing your creative writing (poetry in my case). The top half prompts us to <i>bring the outside in</i> by reading others' work and using any other external stimulus. That could be anything from taking a walk and really observing something in order to write about it, or using props, sensory stimulus (scents, music), for example.<br />
<br />
The other half of the model is about <i>bringing the inside out</i>: which we can do by writing more and by accessing our own inner thoughts and feelings. Here are a few ideas about how to do that:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>take 5-10 minutes to clear top-of-mind clutter by doing free writing before starting your creative writing</li>
<li>use creative thinking techniques that prompt sub-conscious responses - for example where you're asked to respond to a set of stimulus with "the first thing that comes into your head" or "without thinking"</li>
<li>pay attention to your own use of metaphor as you talk. I'm using the word metaphor in the broader sense, to mean any construction where we use one idea to describe another, when it isn't literally true. (For example, "Getting out of bed this morning was a real struggle"). The words we choose can point to our deeper thoughts and feelings about what we're saying.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-18288828584183535172012-10-10T14:28:00.000-07:002012-10-10T14:28:13.404-07:00Growing up<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I stepped out of the house a while,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">had children, jobs, a go at life. I put on<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">hats that didn’t fit and never saw<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">my smile in a mirror.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I stepped out of the house a while<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">walked odorous streets in gorgeous cities, wanted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">others’ tricks and baubles, picked up hanging<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">threads of conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I stepped out of the house and found a spring<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">a self-announcing, giggling gush, just mad<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">to rise and channel. Its prankish water <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">wet my lips and tongue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I looked back at the house and noticed how<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">a sharper light fell, with a cutting edge,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">on cobwebs, dust and window smears, and how<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">it met the dark inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-12439998250275190022012-10-10T14:19:00.000-07:002012-10-10T14:19:58.421-07:00Painkillers on a scale from Actually make it worse to Truly make it better<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Comfort eating:</b> trawling through the fridge<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Secret, guilty, numbing short term fix<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sudoku:</b> boxed in digits, one way’s right<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Certainty, the truth in black and white<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Archers:</b> could it simply be the tune<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Was played to me when I was in the womb?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Films:</b> spill my emotions, lead them on,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Get them out and take them for a run<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friends: </b>connections, talking, being heard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sharing things that matter through our words<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Poems:</b> grasping something never said<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From deep within me, laying it to rest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<br /></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-64062854629157665932012-10-10T14:18:00.000-07:002012-10-10T14:18:22.080-07:00On the Beach<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nothing is here,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Though a blue sky, edge to edge,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Accompanies a mild-mannered sea, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">white-capped for decoration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Postcard-painted beach huts throw their colours to the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A hundred thousand sistered stones make shingle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Loneliness is here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But the sea is playful, chucking balls of spray.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So she ups her zip, while tensing, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">slightly wary of catching skin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Feels the mild discomfort of the stones<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Beneath her feet. They’re slightly warm to touch,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just slightly warming<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Emptiness is here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Complicit though, the ocean -hush, shush, hush -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">denies it, plays at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">perfect summer’s day</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">She drops a matt grey, ocean-tumbled stone <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">her hand has nursed. Returns it to the fellowship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of pebbles, walks away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-57375606857444802322012-10-10T14:09:00.003-07:002012-10-10T14:09:43.883-07:00San Francisco, April 2012<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All those brilliant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Splintered fragments of light<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Across the bay<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Make a scene she can’t get hold of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Prozac-numbed party girl<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sidles past the death of a close friend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Into a courtroom <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To have an opinion <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">About the abuse of a child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The juror’s out of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From tumbling, tearing seas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Clipper yachts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Are racing in to find haven and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Her hand-crafted welcome parties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">They are heaving, swelling and falling,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Words and drinks flowing,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Carrying her close to and away from<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The lighthouse man<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who dazzled her seas,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Projecting mirror-crazed rays.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-85051377679203154192012-10-10T14:07:00.002-07:002012-10-10T14:07:27.660-07:00Angry<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">She’s living like a gloss-painted wall<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Planted, strong, inscrutable, slick<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Behind the wall, she tussles with explosion, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">as it jigs and punches in her open-fingered fist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Occasionally, she roars, and is indignant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">at how the air diminishes the flood<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">of sound to nothing, so that silence is her censor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">and nothing may be said, nothing heard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes she takes a deep and sudden bite<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">from her own forearm; or almost kills her girls;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">or smacks her head against the steering wheel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">and giggles at the horn’s small howl.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once she was so needy that she sought <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">respite in church<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span>although God wasn’t hers<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">—<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">and there she wrote down words so harsh they vanished<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">as she turned each page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They couldn’t be endured.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On better days she’s bramble-torn, her arms<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">and legs ooze, hot with superficial wounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">She knows, on days like these, to let the cool breeze <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">cool the skin, the blood, the head, the mood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-23667788771118661502012-10-10T14:05:00.000-07:002012-10-10T14:05:09.417-07:00Postcards<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What to do with words?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A decision I need not <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Postpone. This summer, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Instead of postcards<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Poems will frame messages: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Paper and pencil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Conduits for fresh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Discoveries, graphited<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In two dimensions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-10546168000172545472012-08-10T02:49:00.001-07:002012-09-13T04:23:20.835-07:00Weekend break<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Tall man walks, each step is a curling swingboat, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">rolling heel to tip-toe, in red-laced plimsolls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">On his sleeve his parakeet rides in comfort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Paris on Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Grey-haired man drinks coffee and smokes a Marlboro,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">gossips intermittently with the barman,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">curses, when the rain begins, takes his coat, moves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">under the awning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Driving here I saw how the road was cracking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Not from drought but lack of long term investment<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">But, for now, a café provides distraction,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">blocks the horizon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Paris, July 2012</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-81128841101509524512012-07-21T07:18:00.002-07:002012-07-21T07:18:28.313-07:00Midpoint<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hurl the rock over water</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Watch it lose energy – your energy- </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arc and break the lamina.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Think of it sinking</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eating metres,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">dismissive of the water’s resistance,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To thump the mud bed hard</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Like a Saturday drunk</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bruising the water with silt,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While on the water’s surface</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The point of puncture</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Still oscillates, pulsing rings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From the centre, choose</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">one of infinite paths</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">to the outer edge.</span></div>Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-25375248543741824222012-07-19T12:45:00.002-07:002012-07-19T12:45:47.426-07:00The Gardener<br />
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">“</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rudyard Kipling</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">A </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">man came or, to be precise, a teacher,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">A bounce in his step and a bounce in his attitude too.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">A man came to the school, to make a difference,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">With a suit and tie and a smile and a point of view.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">“It takes time,” he said, “for a garden to mature,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Takes decades for a tree to reach full height.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">This school will be the garden that I nurture</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">A place of thriving growth is what my sights</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Are set on. I, the teachers, governors, parents, </span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Will bring our contributions, be a team,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">And all from the community we’ll welcome,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">To help us realise our garden dream.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">I know that Ministers of Education</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Will come and go and modify the rules</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">But nothing will distract me from my purpose:</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">My bin will file the paperwork of fools.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Here, learning will be broad like the spread of an oak</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">And the love of learning will be at its heart,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">From which we’ll put out branches, more and many,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Words and numbers, science, sports and art.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Music will wind through the school, its tendrils</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Accompanying songs and plays and dance</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">And you will find me seated at the piano,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Improvising jazz, given half a chance.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Like ivy, we’ll weave clubs and more activities</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Before, through, after school, so children come</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">To feel endless possibilities opening</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Like purple fuchsia flowers in the sun</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Over time we will expand our space,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">More classrooms, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">teachers, single </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">year groups, all</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Of this is possible. We’ll even raise</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">A quarter of a million for a hall.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
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<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">In our assemblies, there’ll be celebration</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Of Christian values, merits and awards </span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">And birthdays, marked with cards and claps and candles—</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">We’ll not set fire to hair or tie, of course.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
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<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">We’ll take them from this garden to discover</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">More about their village, see the Pang,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Walk through bluebells, worship in our churches,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Visit </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Rushall</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"> Farm to see the lambs.</span></div>
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<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">To </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Snelsmore</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Avebury</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">, Ridgeway, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Ufton</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Rhos</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Each year, they’ll go on longer trips away,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Strengthening their limbs, resolve and friendships,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Gaining independence with each stay,</span></div>
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<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">So when they leave this school, we’ll have succeeded</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">If it’s been a place where every one</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Could be their best and grow and feel valued,</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Learn to live and, on the way, have fun.</span></div>
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<div style="direction: ltr; language: en-GB; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Yes, to tend this garden, I’m committed</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">My energy and passion I will give.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Not alone, but with the help of others,</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">I’ll do it”, said the gardener.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andy did.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; language: en-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">Written to mark the retirement of Andy How from Bradfield C of E Primary School, July 2012</span></div>
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Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-20691738095537026932012-06-22T10:20:00.000-07:002012-07-21T09:18:25.205-07:00My mother and the tsunami<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The great wave came and missed her, she had distance:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saw it nearing, climbed, while people passed her,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">High enough to safeguard her existence.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For days I fretted, then a text. Then, faster</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">others came, like news reports but shorter:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For her it was a small, intense disaster.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Monks provided shelter, bottled water.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Medicines that she’d rescued came in handy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A couple passed by looking for their daughter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Scavenged diesel fuelled a jeep to Kandy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There she stayed, reviewing what she’d saved,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">and sent my kids a card, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My room was sandy,</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Monkeys played there, after the big wave</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had to climb and hide behind a wall</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The hotel owner called it a close shave.”</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Years later, when the impact of the Galle</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">event had waned, as far as we could tell,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">some mealtime chatter led her to recall</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">the horror. Worst, she said, was how the swell</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">had stranded bodies like big fish; and that</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">the thing that wouldn’t leave her was the smell.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That silenced us for seconds, then we ate.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-68268558852364305832012-06-21T10:18:00.000-07:002012-06-21T10:18:22.304-07:00Fairy steps and giant strides<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It starts – as it always does - with fairy steps</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">silver dust, kicked up in sparkles,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">as they pass in a corridor,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>you-again</em>, raised eyebrows,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">coffee at the same time, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">more or less, give or take a heartbeat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Magical fairy steps</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">tiptoe-trip towards some future,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">as they lunch, make unremarkable exchanges </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">her face tight with alertness, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">slight uncertainty.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With the team day out, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">come quickening fairy steps to the dinner</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">and imperative seats them</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">face to face, with wine and nerves on fire, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">tension rising, like scalding steam.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Group-loud jokes fill the bar, connections </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">snip-snap into place across the team until </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">much later, quieter, two of them sit, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">still, and patches of silvery glitter </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">settle round their dress-down shoes</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">in glowing moonlight pools</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And he pauses, leans in, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">takes a breath that holds her scent </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">and knows that, in a moment, he will take </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">a giant stride, towards or away.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
This was placed second in a local poetry competition.Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-68385309033321995152012-05-31T05:22:00.000-07:002012-05-31T05:22:53.552-07:00A Sapphic for Sunday<br />
Strolling on the riverside path, on Sunday,<br />
solo, slowly, kicking a stone in. Slyly<br />
watching families being together, nicely,<br />
since they’re in public<br />
<br />
Since in public, nothing is really showing<br />
Scars are covered, stitches are held together,<br />
Dressed with hoodies, bandaged with coloured T-shirts<br />
Sunday’s for healing.<br />
<br />
<br />
Louise OrdishLouisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-6835424187203656502012-05-20T02:41:00.000-07:002012-12-30T04:02:48.353-08:00The way happiness finds me<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">On the school field, layered over playtime, </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">A one-night village of camper vans and nylon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">12-berth citadels and two-man squeezers</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Pop-up tents like bubble-gum balloons</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">A view of shifting greens, a pre-school collage</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Of fields and hedges, trees in light and shade</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">A British summer's evening: we'll have rain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Bingo, burgers, baps; pre-hoodie kids</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Kick balls and swarm and scatter, spread among</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Our camping chairs, cold beer and easy talk.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Year sixes bind. Friend to friend, intense,</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Afraid of summer's leap to their next school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Night strolls quietly in. From boxes, children</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Break out light sticks, snap alive their glow,</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Trade colours and connectors, build their gear:</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Bracelets, earrings, necklaces and belts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Hurdling guy ropes, now they stream away</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Towards a distant, thicker darkness where,</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Untethered, indiscernible, they hurl </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Up high their spinning neon rings, </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">As though to cast their very spirits free.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">To see it stills me; I will keep this safe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Disco man has sorted out the sounds</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">His green light's on, he lets the music out</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">“Tonight's gonna be a good night”, swells the sweet</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">And knowing promise of the Black Eyed Peas.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">I've got that feeling too, it picks me up</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">And takes me barefoot to the dance-grass where</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">I shake a shot of pleasure through my limbs</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">And feel the small emerging child in me</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Whoop and loop the loop and hurl my hoops</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Of vivid living colour to the sky.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">17.7.11</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Louise Ordish</span></div>
Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-63332168614262533572012-05-20T02:37:00.002-07:002012-05-20T02:38:37.416-07:00King of the Road<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">23.11.11</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">See my car</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">‘phone box, Monopoly hotel, Edam was:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That’s how red. And that scratch,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is a fighter’s scar, victory’s proof.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rust?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, my car’s no baby, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">No beginner, it’s been </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Around the block.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">See, when I’m in my car</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The world shifts and settles</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To put me at its centre</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pedalling like fury</span></div>Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2558755778361741262.post-80841482495087266092012-05-19T15:38:00.000-07:002012-05-20T03:38:30.284-07:00By Chance<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If, when I was seven,</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had slipped my hand from my mother’s</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and let the crowd draw me away </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to a life in the circus,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and if, when you were eighteen</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">you had skidded on your Harley, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">torn your shin, been nursed </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">by a daring bareback rider,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">we would never have come together</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">like this, arms outstretched</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">knees hooked over the bar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">masters of the flying trapeze.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">April 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Louise Ordish</span></div>Louisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17755078821724797330noreply@blogger.com1