Tropical Rain, Break Time and Poetry Class

*My backyard after continual rain © styling Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2024*

I guess every blogger at some time or another decides to take a break, whether it is because of lifestyle changes, work pressures or just that nothing seems to jump out and say “Blog me!” My recent lackadaisical approach is due to high tropical heat and incredibly torrential downpours which have played havoc with both inland regions and coastal towns of Queensland, Australia.

Here in subtropical Brisbane we have had massive plant growth (and soggy lawns, water under the house, humidity which is exhausting) and my photograph is proof of Nature’s unequivocal love of water. The lawn (grass really) is up to my knees; overnight the lavender grew out of its pot, and you can see by the rainwater bucket (used on potted indoor plants) keeps replenishing day and night. Instead of high heating bills, this summer the electricity source is working hard on air-con and ceiling fans.

Still, there is always something to do and life does go on, and on, and on, helped or hindered by weather cycles. Perhaps this time next year Brisbane City Council will introduce hand-watering and I will probably be doling out cupful’s of the precious liquid. Water is really survival itself!

Something which has been taking a bit of my attention away from blogging is poetry.
A quote from Fishing for Lightning explains why—
“In defence of difficulty in poetry I would say this: poetry tries, as best it can, to wrestle with our most complex and ineffable emotions,
and in order to do so the poet must forge a language that is equal to the task.”
Sarah Holland-Batt
‘Fishing for Lightning’ Page 94 Published UQP First Edition 2021

*The title is indirectly related to the book © styling Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2024*

Soon, I will blog post about a U3A Zoom poetry class I am attending online – due to the heat and rain – and confidently tell you that I am slowly grasping the concept. The book I am studying is titled ‘Fishing for Lightning’ compiled by Sarah Holland-Batt, I won’t divulge the story behind the title, subtitled ‘The Spark of Poetry’. The only poem spark I remember grasping was William Wordsworth’s daffodils in ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ but as an adult I am prepared to give it another go. Stay tuned!

Oh, now just a self-indulgent notation: Due to this year’s phenomenal plant growth, all gardening clean-up services (and lawnmower men) are fully booked. Even a local lad who works on weekends is not returning calls. Some ute-and-whipper-snipper operators are charging grossly inflated prices because it is an industry which is not regulated. This strange turn of events prompted me to request a Green Bin from our city council; it’s like a normal rubbish bin except it’s green and clean and recycles garden waste. Just wait until the weekend!

And finally, a little nudge to all those lazy, off-hand, patronising and sometimes whingey gardener guys who came to quote and never rang back, ignoring my pleas and cash; just you wait until the weather cycle changes and everything turns to drought. Will the work be there? Or will we lawnmower-challenged suburbanites shrug and say “Sorry, the lawn and garden are totally dried out, no need of your services, I can hand-trim the odd blade of grass myself.” (Ah, the power, cue evil laughter 😀)

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

The Strength of Nine Words

This Stephen Benét quote struck a cord with me and I wish it would reverberate around the world to governments, politicians, leaders, teachers, legal and law enforcers, armed forces, researchers in medicine and electronics, mass media, writers, local companies, every citizen, parents and caregivers. Just because we can wield great power, building and destroying in equal measure, from bombing cities to decimating rainforests, I believe we should stop and cultivate the wisdom of Consequence. Bigger, stronger is rarely better. Be wise enough to know it can be done but is it necessary for a healthy future? Wisdom to think, assess, and speak clearly. Wisdom to be unafraid to give your opinion, which unfortunately is denied in many countries. Less power, more universal wisdom to make things better not worse. GBW.

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2024

Review ‘Gunflower’ Laura Jean McKay

Award-winning author Laura Jean McKay writes on another level of unusual. Clever, jolting and altogether quite unique.

A certain maturity is needed to feel the strength and hypnotic power of the ‘Gunflower’ short stories. It’s not what’s written which holds the key. It’s the unsettling subtext and intertextuality which means there is more here than meets the reader’s eye.

These short stories transcend the written words so that my own reminiscences began to colour the pages. I squirmed, I laughed, I cried and most of all I realised where the author was coming from with each character or creature, for better or worse.

Grouped under three headings Birth / Life / Death, don’t let the idyllic pastoral bookcover fool you. Written with a keen eye, read ‘Last Days of Summer’ or ‘What We Do’ and try not to shiver with guilt. Some tales are one page length, memorably short and punchy. Perhaps the longest story is ‘Gunflower’ a powerful premise on abortion.
https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/gunflower-9781922585943

There is loss as well as survivor moments. As I read I remembered a person I knew just like one of the deli characters Joni in ‘Smoko’ but then grasped that I didn’t know the real person at all until the character showed me their inner tenacity. As did all the women in these stories; Felicity and Barb are particularly liberated in ‘Ranging’ 😉

This book may not appeal to the mass market and I bet readers will have different opinions on what ‘Site’ is all about. First Fleet? Booklovers often have a conservative bent when it comes to the patriarchy and also communicating with pets and animals. We tend to shy away like skittish horses at difficult chapters, but I think the subjects earned their hard-won place.

Brace yourself, this is a wild ride and McKay’s novel ‘The Animals In That Country’ seems restrained in comparison. I do wonder if short story collections are the ones which never flourish into fully fledged books. But, hey, these are thought-provoking gems and many Australian authors never get this far.

Keep it different, Laura, keep shaking it up.

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Laura Jean McKay is the author of Gunflower, and The Animals in That Country (Scribe) was winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award, The Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year and co-winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2021. The Animals in That Country has been shortlisted for The Kitschies, The Stella Prize, The Readings Prize and the ASL Gold Medal and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.

Thoughts on Indigenous Voice Referendum 2023

“The Australian Indigenous Voice Referendum will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023. Every Australian voter will be asked to approve an alteration to the Australian Constitution that would recognise Indigenous Australians, the original custodians.”

Indigenous Australians have, for thousands of years, understood the land, nurtured and worked with nature, followed the seasons, and left no gaping holes in the landscape. Just because we cannot see exactly what is happening with mining in Australia doesn’t mean it’s right for the future. For every tree, rock and animal habitat destroyed we lose something special, something that can never be replaced. Do you know the story of the Dodo? Yes, it was a real bird living in the woods on the coastal areas of Mauritius, minding its own business until someone thought its eggs were tasty on toast and then they decided to eat the Dodo birds until none were left. The world lost a species before future generations got to see it. This is happening every day in Australia when wildlife areas are bulldozed. We have reached an important milestone in our brutal history. Support Indigenous leaders, work together for everyone’s benefit to create a more cohesive society and enhance the stability of our future. The very least we can do is give Indigenous Australians a Voice in Parliament to explain a few things that a succession of political leaders have overlooked.

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

N.B. Check out the Australian Museum list of extinct Australian animals, several wiped out by introduced species, mining, land clearing and indiscriminate farming. Does the Koala have a future?
https://australian.museum/learn/australia-over-time/extinct-animals/

UPDATE: Sunday 15/10/23: The Voice Referendum 2023 results are in and although it is all cut and dried it still appears to be uppermost in Australian minds. I won’t go into an analysis, or all the hocus-pocus, but suffice to say if anyone reads my blog post they will know how I voted. I have yet to ask whether or not this result was against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or that our colonial past is alive and well. GBW.

Image styling © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2023

Review ‘Starberries and Kee’ Cate Whittle

A novel of far-reaching ideas and future prediction which looks from our careless past to a positive future where climate-change has radically reshaped the way people, animals and plants of the world live and thrive. I smiled at the concept of share cars, a great idea but I think it will be another century before it catches on.

Described as Solarpunk genre (see below) so much is lost yet so much is gained in the way of solidarity, community and compassion. Hard work, healthy food, clean water, fresh air, caring and sharing and generally making-do. All shaped through dire necessity due to past global pollution, neglectful land care and disregard for consequences, although the story has no recriminatory tone and looks to future sustainability.

Young Wren is a boy of the mountains, living with mentor Old Man and learning the ways of Nature until it is time for him to leave on a quest. Kee, his totem black cockatoo follows him. Young Hannah and old Libby have to leave the Street in the City in which Hannah was born and raised; a necessary yet bitter-sweet time for all three characters as they begin the prospect of a new stage in their lives.

On arrival at South Hills Pod, Hannah walks into her new shared bedroom noticing posters on the wall “photos from Before” a time we currently take for granted, like Libby’s jam-making skills. Unfortunately Melanie, the other occupant of the room, is rude and unwelcoming. Settling in becomes a challenge for Hannah, she likes art and does her school work online while longing for her old home and friends. South Hills homes are built partially underground (think Hobbit) cooler and not as claustrophobic as it sounds.

“I took a snapshot of the book opened out because the vivid art work continues the theme so well on the back cover” GBW 2023

Around Hannah and Libby’s new share home there are ponds and hectares of covered produce gardens with shade sails and monthly market days at the Gathering-Place.
“Like the home-garth, the garden was in a huge amphitheatre terraced out of the hillside facing north.”
Page 67 ‘Starberries and Kee’ Cate Whittle 2023

Meanwhile, wild-child Wren is also having a rough time. He cannot understand the strange things he sees and the weird food he sneaks from the food growing domes. He calls Hannah’s new place “wombat-people’s camp”. Suddenly their two paths collide, there is a secret pledge, and a heart-racing life-threatening drama unfolds.

Author Cate Whittle has written a speculative fiction novel for middle grade/YA readers which is approachable and relatable. My preconceived idea of Wren was cleverly altered. He has bush knowledge and yet clear speech for someone raised in rugged mountains. Perhaps a story untold? Adults are kept to a minimum, friendships are made and broken, personalities clash, and families struggle to find a happy medium when mean Melanie adds to Hannah’s homesickness.

The environmental concept is outstanding and the setting is brilliantly realised including chapter 18 and the wonderful cameo when Kee is revealed to a crowd which brought happy tears to my eyes. Living in South Hills Pod would be hard work, but when past duties are shirked that’s what is needed in the future. Also tall trees for wild birds and a safe environment for every family!

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Starberries and Kee

SOLARPUNK EXPLAINED—A serious yet optimistic explanation—“Solarpunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction and a collectivistic social movement that envisions the progression of technology alongside the environment. While the ‘solar’ prefix signifies the term’s relation to solar or renewable energy, the ‘punk’ suffix groups it with other aesthetic sci-fi subgenres like cyberpunk, dieselpunk and steampunk.” I think Cate Whittle’s book has “The solarpunk aesthetic which depicts…a society where the climate crisis has been resolved or is being approached with camaraderie.”
From Brennan Whitfield, 05 January 2023
https://builtin.com/greentech/solarpunk

P.S. I will let you find out the meaning of Starberries and Kee 😉 GBW.

https://shop.bookcow.com.au/p/starberries-and-kee?barcode=9780645191554&search_key=starberries

https://bookcow.com.au/

Return with an Open Mind…West End

otherwise disappointment awaits…

I had not been through the older Brisbane CBD-adjacent suburb of West End for a long time. My first connection goes back to the 1970-80s when many factories ran along the riverfront, parklands were unsafe and you had to bring your own lunch because there were no fast food chains nearby.

The atmosphere was quietly contained. Small businesses and brick and weatherboard homes sat side-by-side with old corrugated iron roofed cottages on stumps turned into lodging houses for tired hippies, a primary school without many pupils and a lowkey ethnic population. Various businesses like print shop, milk bar, newsagent, café, post office, pub and Chinese takeaway, ran along main Boundary Street and iconic Avid Reader Bookstore had not yet opened. You could get on-street parking and your car was baking hot when you returned. But the streets were free of traffic congestion.

Forget most of the nostalgia above.

The suburb of West End, in the curve of the Brisbane River, has grown and changed phenomenally since then. Admittedly I was there on a weekend and the Davies Park Markets (now West End Markets) located among the ancient fig trees on the corner of Jane Street and Montague Road were in full swing and the traffic was bumper to bumper. I wondered if the ghosts of Kurilpa Peninsula, the Turrbal and Yuggera tribes who originally inhabited the area would have approved.

Bit of intel.

I had a college friend whose father worked at the glass factory on Montague Road alongside the river. He said it was hot work and he drank a lot of water. Fast forward and this West End plot of land is expected to be transformed into an extension of South Bank Parklands after the 2032 Olympic Games. According to ABCTV the Visy Glass property in West End was marked in official Olympics pitch documents as the planned location of a 57,000-square-metre international broadcast centre for the world’s media during the Games. More pressure on the local infrastructure.

Meanwhile, West End residents may not be aware that Kurilpa Peninsula is in danger of highrise, and Brisbane is in danger of zoning changes up to 90-storey towers. To quote Greens MP for Ryan, Elizabeth Watson-Brown, “My Greens colleagues across Brisbane and I are calling on the State Government to reject the Brisbane City Council’s proposal to undemocratically override the neighbourhood plan on the Kurilpa Peninsula (West End) to allow 90-storey towers instead of the current zonings for only 8, 16 or 30-storeys.”
Ryan e-newsletter 18 July 2023

On a lighter note, on Mollison Street, not too far from South Bank parklands and Victoria Bridge, there were hundreds of people milling through the shopping precincts; West Village and the streets around were buzzing with eateries, the vibe was Saturday relaxed. Everyone seemed to have a purpose, many had a happy child or happy dog pleased to be outside in the fresh air. Recycled bags full of organic groceries were fashion accessories.

But, dear reader, this is where the stylus scrapes across the vinyl record. Ouch!

Brisbane has the tag “Liveable City” but I was stunned by the amount of glass and concrete reaching into the sky. Highrise dwellings like modern pigeon lofts soared up along Riverside Drive, Mollison Street, Montague Road and beyond. Okay, everyone needs somewhere safe to live, people want first class homes, people love beautiful views, people want all modern amenities and be within close proximity to their workplace and, after hours, all the good things in life.

So I ask the universe in general.

Do they have to be crammed into concrete columns with tinted windows in small two-bedroom apartments, side-by-side with other buildings crowding the landscape, dehumanising our city, obstructing views of sunrise and casting long afternoon shadows? Housing is at a premium but dark lifts and rabbit warren corridors painted grey on each floor level are second only to a feeling of isolation.

Money always talks the loudest.

Just because units are sold off the plan doesn’t mean the resident will be happy. A bit of exterior stylised shaping of an apartment building makes it appear to be different, yet these buildings are carbon copies of possibly thousands around the world. Where is the uniqueness, the special style of our city? Brisbane and its residents deserve lower-level homes, open, light, airy, which reflect our lifestyle, not rooms 90-storeys above where real connections, real life are but a distant image on the ground. Coupled with West End’s existing car and transport congestion and the threat of further flooding, to me The Plan screams future tenements, a dystopian nightmare of wall-to-wall buildings all staring at each other blocking the sun and any hope for a cleaner greener future.

I have added my voice to No To Hyperdensity. What next?

Currently more highrise, as indicated above in my image © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2023 “Brisbane building work in Mollison Street West End”.

Maybe in the future we will have to travel to the Moon to find liveable affordable housing. If in doubt, read “Sea of Tranquility” by Emily St. John Mandel.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Hope of the Tree Queen Warrior – Soliloquy

Tree Queen Warrior © image Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2023

The morning light struck her wounded heart but she raised her jagged limb and cried unheard “I shall be victorious! For I did nothing wrong, I was defenceless. If I could, I would speak loudly of the man in the dark night who, frustrated that I interrupted his view, tried to killed me with poison. My leaves fell, my smaller branches became brittle. The men in orange vests came with their chainsaws to finish me off. One muttered that I was unsafe, the other heard me sigh in sadness and stopped his brutal machine. They looked at me for awhile then trimmed me down. Orders were orders they said. No human has come back to mourn with me, the birds and insects dip their wings but do not stop. The geckos and ants will return when the poison washes away. I remain undefeated, I will grow again and keep my land green, the air cool, give rest to tired walkers, nesting for birds and adventure for the children who climbed my sturdy limbs. And the rain will nurture my young seedlings. See, they are struggling. It will take a long, long time to regrow, for that is how long it took me to grow. I am older than the man who almost killed me. Nature, my strength, says I can create sturdy limbs, green leaves and be a strong tree once again. I will try. I will outlive him. But today I am tired and my life-roots ache for clean water. I must rest before the first pale buds struggle to unfold.”

The Moon

“Always remember we are under the same sky, looking at the same moon.” — Maxine Lee-Mackie

Moonlight image © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2022

Clouds, No Daffodils

Clouds from Mt Coot-tha lookout, Brisbane © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2022

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

By WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze…..

Remember this poem from school days?
Complete verse on Poetry Foundation
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

I have been WP blogging 5 years so that is 10,000 views per year – maybe! GBW 2022

Cotton Harlequin Bug

Image courtesy of Dot Bernet © September 2021

The whole plant was covered in these fast-moving jewel-like bugs! It was fascinating to see them sparkling in the sunlight in a suburban garden.

I am reading “Miss Benson’s Beetle” by Rachel Joyce, wherein Miss Benson and her assistant Enid search for a golden beetle in the wilds of New Caledonia, far removed from the comforts and safety of home, and this book has heightened my interest in insects.

The little Cotton Harlequin bugs (above) were enjoying lunch.

Scientific name: Tectocoris diophthalmus
Size: 2 centimetres

The Australian Cotton Harlequin Bug is a member of the Jewel Bug family named for their bright metallic colouration.

The males and females of the Cotton Harlequin Bug are different colours, with the females mostly orange and the males mostly blue-red.

The Cotton Harlequin Bug lives in urban, agricultural and coastal areas of eastern Australia. It eats sap from many species belonging to the hibiscus plant family (Malvaceae) including ornamental hibiscus species and cotton.

Reference https://australian.museum/learn/animals/insects/cotton-harlequin-bug/

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

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