Seashell Dreams #writeme30

 

The Photo Contributor:

Joey Kennedy. Actor. Artist.

And now proud mama.

I met Joey when she was co-facilitating a program run by Riverland Youth Theatre about youth entrepreneurship for young artists – Joey’s been in a couple of films you might have heard of (Shine and Red Dog) but the film featuring her you should most see is ‘Dance Me To My Song’. We’ve maintained a casual connection through facebook, as so many of us do, and I particularly love seeing Joey’s ‘Mimism’ statuses sharing the funny and adorable things her new little person says and does.

Joey sent this very special and personal photo of her little person for #writeme30 with the following (which I wanted to include here because it’s so precious):

“Sleeping Beauty, Jemimah Rose. Love this co-sleeping/family bed photo of our milk-drunk cherub. Sam took it quietly in the darkness, whilst Mim & I slept peacefully, dreaming contentedly, Mother & Child. Yep, she has this Mama Pyjamas wrapped firmly around her little finger as she holds me & I hold her. She still shares my bed, sleeping cradled in my arms & heart… Circles end where they begin, Alysha. Truly blessed. xxxx

“Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where I begun.” – John Donne “

 

The Photo:

Photo supplied by Joey Kennedy

 

The #writeme30 Response – Seashell Dreams:

 

Softly now.

Into suckled hands.

Wet shoulders, warm with love.

Ear shells curled into startled waiting.

Fingers gripped accidently onto hair rocked free.

And these two arms held suspended by love made flesh and hope.

 

Stretched by hunger.

Gripped by fear laced words,

On the edges of warning labels that sing.

Cheeks upturned, towards lights that dim and twist.

Fluttered eyes that wait in dreams overfull with shape and colour.

Legs bent straight by hopes unspoken before we whisper them quietly.

 

Sighed into life.

Delivered into skin’s echo,

Love’s fragile shadow held, gently.

Rocked by woolen comforts made warm,

By skin slept in and woken again and again and again.

These nights we lean into. Stitching futures into the dark. Together.

 

 

* I will be a few weeks short of photos so if you would like to submit a photo for me to respond to, you would be very welcome to. Email it to me at: pressurelandsATmeDOTcom

** #writeme30 posts are published ‘as is’ (rough!) without any editing or curating as the project is about exploring my responses to the photographs supplied. Some posts may plant the seeds for future writing projects but they are not written with that in mind.

 

 

 

#futurepresent residency #tinytwitterpoem (s) 2014

#tinytwitterpoem (s) written during the #futurepresent residency I was recently part of. Future Present was a residency project led by Rosie Dennis of Urban Theatre Projects as part of Vitalstatistix Adhocracy 2014.

Wind farm at Waterloo visited during #futurepresent. Photo Credit: Alysha Herrmann

All #tinytwitterpoem (s) by Alysha Herrmann (@lylyee)

26^th May to 9^th June 2014

(in reverse chronological order of when they were written)

 

Fight this footprint/ with the fire in your fear/ the legacy in your belly/ we can begin this #futurepresent // #tinytwitterpoem

 

These lines to learn, voices to spill/ into spaces already too full of questions/ you are beautiful to me// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Move between the slippages/ to find a new song/ to stretch and close the space between us/ to lean into a #futurepresent // #tinytwitterpoem

 

The space you shape/ in the gaps/ between brave and not brave/ tomorrow and today/ somehow and no// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Unpack the tasted future/ to push against the well known fear/ the circles created here/ lean/ jump// #tinytwitterpoem

 

This country mapped, by bloodlines ripe for marketing spin// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Limestone layers breathe life into memory stripped echoes// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Comforted by bus love, we doze// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Your double decker dance/ leans against the future/ with blades held steady against an open sky// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Their white wings circle our hopes/ rising into skies blown clear of questions/ high enough to dance// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Your croak and cackle startles me/ bent over by answers/ I wait for true love’s kiss/ you wait a year// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Feathered swells/ crest fertile hillsides/ on fire with sound// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

These farmers hands/ on polished screens/ cracking new conversations/ into wooden bowls// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Promises passed into open arms/ with newer smiles/ to match older arms// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

This country mapped/ with bloodlines ripe for marketing spin/ forced photographs to drag you in// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

You reek of hope/ it stifles all the questions I wanted to ask/ don’t follow me/ I will not answer// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Our family will shine together/ rise together/ with gritty soles/ to wash the soul clean// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Caged in waiting/ scales ready/ the seething hunger stains the walls// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Reveal white tummy to me/I will sink my claws deeper than before/ to bring you with me, into the future// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

The wheels turn/ preparing the way/ held on beady eyes, steady// #tinytwitterpoem

 

Water flayed/ spread too thin to keep us safe/ and so we starve/ together/ apart/ again// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Little rabbit friend/ you herald the end/ of all our hopes/ our fragile dreamings/ buried in your burrows// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Too clever for these flowing rows/ gentle lines mark your words/ fencing fur into the side of tomorrow// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

I loved you enough to kill you gently/ your slicks dreams twined in calloused elbows/ I lean in// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Nets trapped in dollar signs/ sing siren songs to empty coasts/ skeletons marking the edge of our greed// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

The taste of salt in your teeth/smells like blood/she waited too long for her true love/now her gills ache// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Her tail sheds your ethics/ dollar signs in closed eyes suffocate/ reach for your turned back, too late// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Dairy dreams, curve into stomachs left long untended/ filled with weeds that taste of futures yet to seed// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

The apathy builds a list to shop with/ one part pessimist/ one part overspilling hope/ it tastes like soup// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Farm these worries for the future/ stored in old made new/ a mothers gift to you// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

Your homeland sings to my heartland/between the murmurs of our lost/the dreams of our young/let us dance bravely// #tinytwitterpoem#NRW2014

 

The future sown by language lost/ rows, neat against our apathy/ asking only – where does our soul live?// #tinytwitterpoem#futurepresent

 

 

Honey-less #writeme30

Kate Reilly has supplied this week’s #writeme30 photo. Kate and I went to school together in Burra (a really cute little town in the mid north of South Australia) and like many other friends through our family’s many moves we lost touch over time. Through the power of ye olde facebook we’ve since connected again in a loose sort of way and Kate has shared this photo from a safari in her backyard last winter.

The sour sobs in the photo very much reminded me of Burra – as kids we all used to eat them!

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been participating in the #futurepresent residency with Vitalstatistix and Urban Theatre Projects. During the residency which finished a few days ago, our team watched this short video from futurist Kristin Alford:

The loss of bees in the future really stood out to me and reminded me of Kate’s photo. Although I’ve heard about the risk to bee populations before, something about Kristin’s talk made it seem more real than it’s felt before. I love honey on toast. I’ll really miss honey in the future. What does that mean? I don’t know yet, but it’s something to think about.

So here’s the first #writeme30 post for June.

The Photo:

                              Photo supplied by Kate Reilly

The Response – Honey-less:

These days spin

Left waiting in wrappers

Soft with

Warm days

Warm thoughts

 

To reach into the future

To pluck out these weeds

 

Ease our days in walls left untended.

Eyes left un-mended, and now,

Now.

 

This winged, waiting breath. Just breathed.

With hands too small to capture

Eyelids pulling at the wind

Reigned in,

To beginnings,

Fresh with ice

Trailing longing

Weeping forgotten

 

To sit.

Gently perched,

On future dreams.

 

* I will be a few weeks short of photos so if you would like to submit a photo for me to respond to, you would be very welcome to. Email it to me at: pressurelandsATmeDOTcom

** #writeme30 posts are published ‘as is’ without any editing or curating as the project is about exploring my responses to the photographs supplied. Some posts may plant the seeds for future writing projects but they are not written with that in mind.