Intermezzo.

For spectacle, and abandon.

Intermezzo.

The fill act
Lodged by rock and mortar
By Act Two and the grand finish
As hushed patrons hustle to
Dial urgent calls to their lives outside
Busy, important, awaiting no plays
Hurry to toilet breaks
Join lines long and slithering round red curtained walls and corners

Intermezzo before the fall.
She is not watched - the dancer
Sleek, lithe, unseen
Her artful leaps and arcs
Bear no practise
Her movements roll with the mood of the breeze
With the popcorn crunching crowd's sighs
Averted eyes, watch-glance impatience
She does as she will
So to please
Herself.

Only. Absolutely.
Brinking, as the pit violinist strings a high C -
And holds it -
Impossibly -
Still as she -
Levitates
Defying Newton's Laws and multiple city regulations

Intermezzo.
Before the fall.

...

And for the record, Quantum of Solace is every bit as satisfying, burning vengeful, rogue chaotic, bitter wise, as nobody is telling you. You know, don't see it if you're in search of an absolute romance, or any other absolute. For those needs, I recommend Nights in Rodanthe. Or The House Bunny! Australia! There's plenty.

As of today, I am fully employed and brinking on far too employed. Life's good, no?

stomp off, let's go!

Louis Armstrong says it best! So - set this entry to the soundtrack of Louis Armstrong: The Ultimate Collection, Disc 3, Track 13, because that's what's flowin from my cd player right now. Mmm-mm. It's raining, a thunderstorm remnant to douse out the bushfires which burned high near my house yesterday; I assume it was close because we were choking smoke all evening, but I was out all day shopping and caught up in the absolutely awful task of reading Australian Gourmet Traveller & Delicious back issues under the slip light fogged ceiling of the Mitchell wing, State Library, revelling in a room walled with books, smelling library. Yep, it's a fantastic life, and someone's gotta live it! ;)

As I just urged a friend: Listen to the rainfall. Trickle down tango partnered with birdsong. A family of rainbow lorrikeets squeak and squawk from our jacaranda beyond my balcony. On such a morning, like a Louis Armstrong song, I can't help it, I'm on the sunny side of the street, I'm in the mood for love, I'm stomp off, let's go!

So another friend, Alex, texted me yesterday to ask how Day 1: Operation the end of undergrad uni forever (ever ever, ever ever??) went down. And I wouldn't be a wayward procrastinating writer worth my whimsy if I didn't end up answering in a poem. Here it is. Yes it's long, but so was a 5 year degree. Unlike the degree, it goes down easy, like a Tetsuya Ying Sling infused with lychees, definitely a drink to woo women with.

"There must be more than being happy" (Scream love.)

14 Nov.
(1999). A mud hue sedan veered into Pennant Hills Road
The automobile artery of NW Sydney
Male, the driver, late 20s
His mind a kite on a long flying tether
On Caltex, milk and cigarettes
Failed to check right.
His collision theorised by Isaac Newtown four double oo years before
'One object in motion will proceed in due course
Until acted upon by some opposite force.'
Smash!
21.34.
I drank saltwater hospital soup & watched tiny-screen Jerry Maguire
In ER.
The boy across my aisle bore a bloody stump
For a left arm.
So it goes.
(Vonnegut theorised too, fifty years before.)

14 Nov.
(2008.)
I missed my stop.
By plan if not purpose
Thrilling under the passing Bridge beams
Steel pine shadow beams
Harbour glimmer, Quay cruise ships and sunshine
The drop point where a boy
Brilliant, my age, days ago
Dux, final year high
Law Revue loved
Career ready, steady Freehills for life
Forgot the feel of the sun
Heady perfume of magnolia bloom
Of crisp-baked French roll's virgin crackle
Forgot & knew only
Life. Hard life that stretched thin as the skin of a drum, ever ever on.
03.26.
43 mins before the first dawn Cityrail.
By the cold blowing sea gusts, under Bridge beams
He stepped off - saw not
Cruise carnival ships, the harbour as it glimmered
By the city's high lights and brand names neon emblazoned
Felt at last, the thrilling wind as it flew
From the fell drop to the sea.

12.43am.
North Sydney Station.
Unrecognisably changed.
Gone - the smog, 'smoke fog' stairway
Advertising lined, blasted steps
Here, slit aluminium ceilings let in light
By degrees. Dispelled shadows
By design.
I loved to see this. This change. I grew up on this steppes.
Now they're gone.
My battered phone buzzed a message - Alex:

'Spectacular sunny day,
Don't you think?'
I didn't think.
A wild idea for a walking brain.
No-mind. Zen free.
Part of the Plan.

'Exam soon, so relaxed.
Hope you're doing well,
First day of freedom -

Scream love!'

My reply was one line.
The end of the line.
(If I stake my word-bound career by this
I'll be a cardboard box pauper,
Give it days.)
Law - the corporate dream
Hard living
Now a myth.
Dispelled by design.
In one line.

"LOOOOOOVE!!!"

The Midday Swing

Wrote this in the Reading Room of the Customs House Library, hearing the horn-blare of ferries going to and fro from the Quay dock, the heaving blue-white Sydney buses veer the corner, and the whisper shuffle of study notes echoing down the long wood tables, the walls of yellow page books. Pretending to study while Alex actually studied. Ah, so good.

The Midday Swing.

Farflung the bloom at noonday
Drift
Wind-seized at the height of its
Great green life
Purple bloom, to knock you flat
In one blind blow
The blood rush thrilling, flows
To mend your swelling eyes, bruised hands and feet
Last touched
Petal kissed
Revel.

Change has come (Grant Park Victory Speech)

Today I won the Devil Wears Prada job every girl dreams of - PR gig with gourmet food & luxury travel firm in hip little Darlinghurst, working with writers from titles like GQ, Inside Film, Frankie ~swoon~ - but this was far overshadowed by the election of an extraordinary man compelled by circumstance and vision to lead the US into a new unprecedented era. Revolution only occurs when economies are dire and change is not merely a whimsical desire but a vital drive; I'm so glad to be alive right here and now to see and share the moment. You know - wow!

Just aired half an hour ago...

PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA: If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Its the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

Its the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

Its the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

Its been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and hes fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nations promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nations next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy thats coming with us to the White House. And while shes no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what youve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didnt start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generations apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didnt do this just to win an election and I know you didnt do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how theyll make the mortgage, or pay their doctors bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who wont agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government cant solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, its that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one thats on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. Shes a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldnt vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that shes seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we cant, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when womens voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

"In the unlikely story that is America..."

Yes We Can.

(Speech by Barack Obama.)

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

Checkpoint.

Checkpoint


I lie listening
Rain, echo heavy
Dancing in the night
Now a waltz
Light step two and to the side
Trickle-rain
Drooping the arms of branches
Maple, out of season
Cypress by the lake
Heaven sent to river depths
Slipped one by one down the flay pattern leaves
Rain.

I whisper secrets to the rain
It whispers back. Carrying my scandal
To feed the fields and river fishes
Corn grows plump on my secrets
Dead winter abates.
See how the land ripens, rich
With our contraband love
Our necessary secrets.
We walk on, drunk poor and forgetful
Under the rain
By the brimful lake
Gliding ever by some hidden back way
To the open, anonymous sea.