Malala Yousafzai - my hero.

This is the picture I choose to illustrate my last post of the year. This young woman was on her way to school when she was shot in the head by men, who were so frightened of educated women, they were willing to murder a young girl to shut her up. She recovered enough to reveal to the rest of us exactly why we must educate girls. In all the bluster and bloodshed that is our world, she is a voice of reason and compassion. Let's hope her passion and message encourages more women to speak up.
This poem was written in an appeal to women, particularly Muslim women, who are over represented in groups that are currently in conflict between (mainly) men. Lysistrata was a mythical woman of Greece, a thousand years before Mohammed and two and a half thousand years before ISIL. The Taliban would have been terrified of her too.

 Lysistrata in Hijab. 

Children of Islam, 
virgins all. 
Unrequited, stunted, tragic. 
Educated in ignorance 
to worship death. 

 Mothers of Islam, 
virgins no more. 
Prisoners of your own making. 
Only you can set them free, 
your children and your men.

I wish all my friends a happy holiday season.
Whatever religion you follow, or if you follow none, we are all Human Family and I love you.

Pic: Courtesy Wiki.

Cutting down to size.

My mother fed me all good stuff, but still I am quite small.
Compounding my deficiency, I married someone tall.
But all went well, until one night,
She laughed and mocked my height.
T’was then I lost it, cut her head off, threw it down the hall.

Thanks you again Tess for another kinky prompt.

 At a friend's suggestion, I sent a copy of Cull to her friend at the Pentagon. I hope he complains loud and long! BTW, the cheapest way to send books from Australia to anyone in the US, (probably even cheaper within the US), is through the Book Depository in the UK. A$26, London to Virginia!

Snow.

It’s water my dear, I agree,
Like lakes and sweet raindrops, you see.
But lest you first boil it,
‘tis certain to spoil it.
So please do not use it for tea. 

Old saying: ‘Take the pot to the kettle, not the kettle to the pot’.
Thanks Tess for what you do.
Book launch Thursday 27th 5.30 and the Vulcan Café Moruya.

WTF! What idiot would not welcome this!?

"A secretly negotiated agreement between the US and China to lower greenhouse-gas output faced a wall of opposition on Wednesday from Republicans in Washington, who threatened to use their control of both houses of Congress to thwart the plan."

 Now roll ahead to the next Presidential election which the Republicans are odds on to win, and we have the scenario for 'CULL' the novel.

If the US pulls back on renewables as Australia is doing, China will be leading the world in the 'Fight against Climate Change'. If you have not read Cull by Stafford Ray (me), take a look.

The potential for disaster is explored there and its premise is becoming ever more frighteningly real. Now available for Kindle etc.
PS. Busy doing book signings and trying to complete the next book. :-)

High Care Facility.

This last weekend, I, along with Jo and Chloe (the dog) took the caravan to the far south coast for a couple of days. When I lived there to nurse my dying mother, as anyone who has done that will attest, depression was never far away. So I joined a writers group to get the feelings out. At the writers meeting on Saturday, I renewed contact with some old friends, read some of 'Cull' and sold a few copies. But in the back of my mind was this poem, probably the best I wrote while nursing Mum, after she was committed to an 'Aged high care facility'. She understood the need for the move, but to see her there day after day, waiting to die, was heart breaking and I still cannot read this poem aloud without tears.

She sits and she stares
at the door to her world
from which she came,
to this allotted space.

Beautiful mind,
cruelly spared.
Taunted though empty days
and long, long, grieving nights,
by mem’ry of lost relevance.

Craving assurance;
a human embrace,
while latex plastic hands
touch only from necessity.

This little time, a miser’s gift.
Last chance to ease her passing,
with what will not be given;
The final validation of her existence.

 Thanks Tess for your wonderful prompts . Book launch date set for 27th November but the way it is going, the print run might have been sold out by then! One reviewer said "A cross between David Suzuki and John Grisham". How about that! Now available through Amazon.

A hydrant too far.

Damn drat and blast, I am caught on the wire
Far too much haste, now I’ll tear my attire.
You ask me; ‘Why run?’
I say; ‘Not for fun-
You’d hurry too, if your pants were on fire!’

Thanks again Tess for another interesting prompt.

Nice place to visit, but…

Sometimes, art is
expressing what is possible,
posing life’s conundrum,
visions of improbable.

 But
Sometimes, art is
a wallow, so sublime
it’s understood by no-one;
A noble waste of time.

 I read yesterday that Ken Follett and I have two things in common. We were both brought up in Plymouth (Exclusive) Brethren families and we both play bass guitar. But there the parallels end. He has sold 176,000,000 copies of his books. I have sold about nine and am twelve years older. So dear reader, if I am to catch up, you had better hurry up and buy one!

Thanks again Tess for scrounging around for interesting images to challenge and inspire.

At the beach, almost all people hide their keys and wallets in their shoes.

Hot sun, warm breeze, just you and me.
We lazed for hours, beside the sea.
Then home, then back,
Alas alack!
The tide came in; can’t find my key!

Book (Cull Stafford Ray) now available at Booktopia (Australia) and Amazon.co.uk and of course from the publisher . Book Depository still out of stock. Getting some great reviews. (keep them coming in.)
Thank you Tess for your continuing support for writing and writers.

Reality bites.

The breeze in my hair, so refreshing
as spring comes, its life force unleashing.
But what is that dusty,
that smell, rank and musty?
It seems that these curtains need cleaning!

NEW! Available now on http://amazon.co.uk for download.

For Australians: The book now available at Booktopia, and at a discount of 20%! If you want to see an in depth review, take a look at Kutamun's blog .
Thanks again Tess for another lovely prompt.

Confession of Innocence.

I tried, not enough, to resist,
as instinct drew me to her.
It seemed at the time, as if
Choices was just another word
others used.

And now, as years and consequence
reveal the possibilities, too late,
I know, as gentle sadness comes,
I was helpless, a moth, drawn
to its candle.

Thank you Tess for providing us with your challenges.

Something happened yesterday that took me back a long time and brought this on. Perhaps it was also prompted by the unexpected and sudden death of the incredibly talented Kerrie Biddell, musician extraordinaire.
For anyone still searching for the Book, it seems Amazon has not deigned to list it as yet, so I suggest you Google 'Book Depository', look for Cull by Stafford Ray, and leave your email address to be notified when it comes in. They ship free world wide.

Important (to me). Any of my friends who have read Cull, please go to Goodreads and review it for me.