Poem for the Day: Grandfather's Boat: a found poem

Grandfather's Boat

His rowing boat anchors at the edge of a sandbar,
lifts as grandfather lifted the anchor, the day

the sun struck his life, the day his heart gave way.
His boat still arching and rolling with the tide.

Oars empty of hands. His vessel waiting silently
for a figure on the bow, throwing bait, berley

and line into Booker Bay. Other boats tell
tales of their keen fishing life. Old fishermen

cast in these waters, arriving in knee-high boots,
large gentle hands holding on to a wooden rudder,

the pull of oars, or engine's throttle. Men steering
the channel as my grandfather's life steered away 

to another shore, leaving his new purchase in the bay
lisping at the edge of the sandbar, blip, blip, blip.

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Cartoon for the Day

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Poem for the Day - Three Abandoned Cats

Three Abandoned Cats

There are three abandoned cats

in my suburb. Left there as an overnight

stay, perhaps, by the owner. What

on earth did they think? The cats might perhaps

fend for themselves, eat ants, small insects,

birds, geckos, mice, a real feral smorgasbord!

Did they think that two small kittens, thin and black

would knock on every door in the street, beg,

sing, roll-over, sit up cute or leg rub a shin?

What cruelty! What malicious intent! What

ignorance of a small cat's need. So much

sadness to watch this sad occasion, no

neighbours within the streets to take

them in. No sign yet of rescue, although

the writer has tried them all. Think on this,
dear reader, cats are nature, part of our                                                        

world. Why do folks dump so many?

Why are so many killed?

I have been feeding 3 abandoned cats in an empty rental property two streets away from where I live. They are domestic animals, that were once looked after by their owner. Apparently, according to other neighbours in the street, the tenant has moved to the country. There are ways and means of re-housing cats. Shelters, volunteers, there's The Gum Tree, the Quokka, the Cat Haven - as many as the irresponsible people who act out of ignorance and cruelty. The RSPCA advised me about 9 Lives Cats Rescue who try to foster out our little furry friends. http://www.9livescatrescue.com.au/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&gid=4&Itemid=69

Of course, I am a cat lover and already own 2 that were rescued by me. Anyone else in Perth Western Australia, can call me daytime on 0404666156 if you, or you know of anyone prepared to take one, two or a third pregnant cat in. Thanks, Helen

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Poem for the Day: School Days are like Bad Hair Days

 

School Days are like Bad Hair Days

Glancing into the rear view mirror of the past,

you realize that all the students you went to school

with were enough to fill a history book.

You can see them on the train, the toughies, cardigan

stretchers, knee-crackers from your primary school.

In your head, they never age, and on hot afternoons

you hear their voices, making sweat trickle down the

blue serge you wore every day. Your neighbour’s

doorbell sounds like the one lifted from the school 

at graduation. And Bronwyn Hobbs is still screaming

across the playground towards Wendy Ballantine.

You need these voices as a reminder of the English teacher

who marched you outside for calling Gloria Cable “Nitsy”

– other culprits getting away with it, as well as smoking

on the train. You weren’t perfect except for the A’s while

their grades dropped as fast as their nickers in beach

volley ball.You forget most of the kids’ names, all

except Fattie Parsons whose father was the local cop,

so you couldn’t call him fat — well not to his face.

What hadn’t dropped off in the scuffle of fights over

the years was already opening onto the road. Your hand

me-down school shoes with cracked uppers, finding the

sting of double-gees in socks hard going up the hill.

You can’t remember what your final term paper said,

but you do remember burning your books, textbooks,

and loose papers, the blackened charred edges curling

somewhere on a reference to William Butler Yeats.

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