You’re trapped. You work from home and no one is checking over your shoulder you’re in charge, running the show Just send your report and you are paid, but so little! Or you choose to take a job in town where you are part of the team with back-to-back meetings while you smile to colleagues till your lips feel sore A well-paid job but you will never get your way. If sharing information is at stake yet you intend to offset the demands and maintain a balance keep your views to yourself Saving your wise opinions for an opportune time.
Category: Uncategorized
Quarantining some Australians
The shopkeeper signals her over.
’Not my turn!’ she says.
He looks to the side ‘Come on then!’
calling to the Indigenous youth he’d ignored,
who shuffles up holding some sandals.
‘You can’t afford those, he growls, ‘Pick something else’,
returning the man’s card behind the counter.
He turns to her. ‘One sunhat. Any cash with that?’
She shakes her head, enters her pin,
staring at the forlorn card on counter.
‘Cashless welfare’ he grins.
Looking up, ‘That’s better!’
She turns to see the glum youth,
standing, flipflops in hand.
Uneasy now,
she wonders how to report this power keeper.
P for People
I love hearing people and enjoy watching them
but I don’t like to study them. I know gestures,
posture or gait can indicate varied personalities.
I understand some traits like the eyes, the nose
or the mouth might be inherited.
Is there a view that our body shape
could affect our development
as an individual? I don’t
know that either.
For an insight
into my fellow
humans I rely
only on intuition.
No study needed.
When we meet
I start talking with
them. By chance
we open on topics
common to us.
Either we hit it off
or we don’t.
Nightmare for officers
Communication was difficult
due to lack of facilities in a prison.
Prisoners were sometimes refused
pen, paper or envelopes.
Some of the duty officers could be punitive
or unwilling to act.
In the education centre, tutors often worked around that:
pulled out pages, force- scribbled pens,
sharpened pencils.
Student prisoners sometimes came back with
a poem,
other times with a letter for which they needed
an envelope.
They said they could buy stamps but the shop had
no envelopes.
Last night my dream became
a prison administrator’s nightmare.
Education received
a gross of envelopes.
Every prisoner who wanted could send letters!
M for Mindfulness
Mindfulness Definitely in the moment. Legs crossed and back straight! I close my eyes and concentrate. Rock music, not the Beatles, Pop Songs. I push that thought aside. A shard of light. Beachside sunsets will defeat all blinds. I breathe in, then out for two extra counts. In with the sea smell, out with rock pulses. Breathing in the musical rhythms, holding and breathing out the warm sunlight. I let go. Vagueness of thoughts and sounds merge in the lull of the van where I sit on a mat, on the edge of a crowded caravan park. I’m ready to party.
Language Learning
I tried calligraphy With trials at drawing. I didn’t go on stage. I gave up the piano. From Greek I translated Some of Homer’s Iliad. I went around Europe, In and out of England too. I danced to rock and roll But revelled in jazz jams. I met an Englishman. Leaving my little brother behind, we went to Africa. There in a house With no electricity we raised our first-born. To my small baby, wrapped in bright java-print I started talking in French English even in Chilunda. Mwinilunga turned out to be a good place to learn a new language .
Yayi's Paroles 