Tableland Talk, December 2025
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Tag Archives: Strathbogie Tableland
Tableland Talk, November 2025
Tableland Talk, October 2025
Tableland Talk September 2025
A small local community newsletter I edit each month.
Tableland Talk August 2025
Another edition of the very local newsletter I edit each month. Apologies for the lack of other material in recent months. Other things going on, but I am hoping to be back for more publishing soon!
Tableland Talk, July 2025
The very local newsletter I edit each month.
Tableland Talk June 2025
Tableland Talk May edition
Summer’s end
Scared of the new summer
It makes pleasurable sense to live in the country
but I am apprehensive about what it means
when the blistering sun and a searing north wind
are set to scorch the earth when they rise again
I am scared of the new summer on days like these
marked for worsening catastrophes
where shimmering heat on the horizon it seems
prefaces the burning of landscapes by fire destined
to scour every countryside rise and glen
I feel the new summer fear rise again
I am scared of the new summer as you should be
when severe climate change dictates choice and activity
Of lovers and madness
Love is oft mad
at least it is common
for those who are in love
to behave madly most often
whether love at first sight
or as an earned right
love’s haze can refuse
the darkest of midnights
to acknowledge or confuse
bright beauteous light
thus driving one to action
bound later for redaction
for as Shakespeare said
in lines wise writ and read
“Things bad and vile, holding no quantity
love can transpose to form and dignity.”
Ref: A Midsummer Night’s Dream II 232-233
Tableland Talk April 2025
Bogie autumn
It has been a long, harsh, hot summer. Softening autumn light is finally here. Hopefully, consistently cooler weather is to follow soon.
Cycle of life
I wonder if I will ever get back on my bikes
free to ride wherever I like
living with arthritis is a constant pain
I do hope I get to ride again
luckily I can write to fill my time
put some cycling photography into rhyme
All work is my own and subject to copyright. I do not permit AI to use my work.
Trouble
I was loitering on the corner after friends had dropped me there
I didn’t go nowhere because I was scared
I felt it coming a fright and a fear
as if it was my last year
and when it finally fell upon me the anticipated dread
I wished I had stayed at home in my warm and cosy bed
the devil in his black coat to me he came and said
I’m gonna frame you
I looked around but I couldn’t see anything of a crime
I waited there longer I waited some extra time
there was nothing to give me a clue no flashing sign
that my whole world was a turning
when she pulled up in her long bright shiny yellow hearse
I avoided her stare as if it was a curse
but eventually she prevailed with a promise to reimburse
me for my trouble
we drove to the mountain right to the very top
when we got there she made the hearse come to a stop
right at the edge by a long steep drop
I exclaimed I was scared of heights
she got out of the car came round and opened my door
I didn’t see her coming cos I was looking at the floor
she pulled me out with the strength of two or three or four
and dumped me on the dirt by the barriers
I struggled as she prepared to throw me into the abyss
but then she bent to give me my first Judas kiss
I knew what was coming so I ducked and she missed
I pushed her in the chest
and she swayed backwards
little did I know that she would unbalance then
I watched her teetering on the edge until when
she fell to her death
just as god sent
me a message
he said to get out of there because things weren't looking pretty
I didn’t need no message I as tore across the city
my mind was in turmoil full of self pity
I found a little hideaway a little dirty a little gritty
and laid low until things blew over
ever since that day I’ve been creeping around the town
all nervous and alone again I’ve been going round
worried the cops would do me over and when I would be found
but my life became fortunate and stable
the lord moves in mysterious ways around my little hangout
but in my mind there really is no skerrick of a doubt
he saved me twice from death and the devil without
my ever understanding anyways how or about
I ever got to be in so much trouble
In Forests #01
In forests we go walking to find the time for talking
to take us away from the city hustle ever stalking
I meet you on love’s wings at the perimeter of meadows
and I love you all the more as we enter soft green forest shadows
we take the paths less trodden to open new forest doors
we find our way to high places to meres and rugged moors
the ferns they point our way with glistening fronds a waving
guiding us through the timeless forest we find ourselves a weaving
hand in hand we travel each a lovestruck wandering Gypsy
this time this place alone together precious magical and carefree
sun rays light the glades with golden shafts of wonder
we look aloft, laugh and dance beneath the forest grandeur
we lie down on forest beds and let our fingers do some walking
our hands our lips our tongue tips put a silence to the talking
again the language of forest love begins and with it our renewal
I’ll always be your forest love you my cherished forest jewel
when the forest loving is done and we must find our way back home
we’ll look forward to more forest talking and forest loving yet to come
Emerald
A shimmering emerald light I saw aloft
in afternoon’s glow a flickering on and off
with twisting turns it flashed colour at me
I transfixed watched closely to see
windy flutterings of swamp gum leaves
on one branch hung these sunlight thieves
eucalyptus greens greys and blues they waved
their pretty dance to me they gave
Tableland Talk March 2025
Alpacas
I looked at you
you looked at me
I looked back again
I sensed that you were asking if I was your friend?
without Alpaca words to say so, I decided to move on
I enjoyed our time together but there were other things to be done
Follow the sun
Mt Wombat, Victoria.
Said she I’ll follow the sun
and when the following is done
I will have my release
Said he I’ll wait for you
and when the waiting is done
together we’ll find peace
She followed the sun
and followed the sun
never finding the end of her quest
He watched the horizon
every day of the week
every evening again dispossessed
The sun never shirked
its purpose lighting the day
rising and setting as it should
This man and this woman
staked their futures on the sun
but it’s purpose they never understood
Tableland Talk February 2025
Polly McQuinn’s
Let’s go for a picnic and a swim at Polly McQuinn’s
we’ll pack a basket of food and some cold drinks
I’ll get the picnic rug and the Esky
we can spread out on this long hot lazy afternoon
under the tall peppermints and swamp gums
by the cool soothing brown water of the swimming hole
we can lounge in the shade all day if we want too
maybe you will want to take some sun in your bathers for a spell
before a refreshing plunge into that oasis below the weir
I’ll watch you, admire and love you the whole while
I’ll reflect on where we are going and where we have been
I will even venture in for a swim with you
because this moment in this water will change everything
when I meet you in the slow eddies
embrace you forehead to forehead nose to nose shoulder to shoulder chest to chest hip to hip
our legs gently treading water together
rotating us blissfully so full of each other we could burst
I will tell you I want to marry you
I will ask you to marry me
and I will softly kiss the earthy water from your lips until I hear your reply
Cloudy
Sunrise and the clouds are silver, gold, pink or the brightest of whites
they promise new beginnings and I believe them
I say goodbye to the night
and the day is full of all that might be
sun fringed clouds speak of good fortune and hope
when I raise my eyes to see them things start looking up
silver linings
dark clouds rising are mysterious and foreboding
what danger is imminent?
how will it affect me?
I become watchful
ah, today black clouds shadow my father's angry face
it’s time to make myself scarce
there is no doubt about the turbulence ahead
for mother and me it’s time to flee the storm to come
I am grateful
the clouds have lifted from our little home
the windows and doors are open
fresh air has once again surged through and purged too
my little window looks to the sky
there are omens in the various shapes passing by
I watch them, they guide me
to more thoughts of what is to come by and by
Bejewelled
Here jewell like beads of water hang from grassy stems
the crystal clear worlds inside each reflect a world less clear on the outside
shiny bright surfaces glisten and sparkle with the captured light of morning
here in perfect symmetry each luminous pearl is delicately balanced
suspended flawless and oblivious of the future
pulled by gravity against the surface tension of a liquid sphere
each represents one of millions or billions across this mist dusted field
here a landscape is bejewelled
a scene elemental as the water of which it is composed
rich as every jewel that composes it
here natural beauty on a tiny scale is the very essence of pleasure en masse
still life in the bush
sometimes an image strikes you
before you even take it
still life in the bush
make it!
Photography days #32.
All work is my own and subject to copyright. I do not use AI. I do not want AI to use my work.
poetography.ink 