Leaving (Song for an Artist)

Amongst all that paper I went through tonight, I found a poem I told a friend today that I'd written her. When we were 18, she left our sleepy little home town to go to Uni in Tasmania. With the big circle of tightly knit friends we all get after high school for a while, losing one of your own is devastating. I remember I wrote something when she first left, but it really was atrocious... more so than this one.

This one was written 3 years later when I first heard from my absent friend again after my Mum died. She called me up to offer her condolences, which I thought was really nice of her and I never forgot it. We did lose touch though until Schoolfriends.com and MSN let us catch up. Now she annoys the crap out of me any time she feels like it (:P Dags).

Leaving (Song For An Artist)

Portrait of you in black & white,
Your hair is short, your face is grey.
Are you sad? Or is it just the light?
I guess you took it yourself,
I suppose you meant it that way.

It's three years on and I miss you like crazy,
It's been so long since I heard your voice.
I'd write you a letter but I guess I'm too lazy,
I'd have you here if I had my choice.

Saw you walk through that customs gate
And it really brought me down,
Should have know you were gone forever,
You were always too good for this town.
When you told us all that day,
That you were leaving for the Strait,
I don't think I beleived until,
I couldn't see you through that gate.

Friends for life or so they say,
But sometimes things don't work out right,
Time goes on, people change,
The days can turn to the longest night.
You can't keep things that were never yours,
Don't complain, that's just the way things are,
You can't go opening closing doors,
There's no way to catch a falling star.

So now I'm here and you're still in Hobart,
That reality's final, you made your choice,
I'll give you a call just as oon as I'm sober,
Just don't expect that same old voice,
My throat these days, it croaks with sadness,
I've had some pain in these last few years.
Living a lie through out all this madness,
I find it hard to hide my tears.

Watched you discovering just who you are,
And it really made me smile.
You, me and our friends would ride in my car,
That made me happy for a while.
Now you're gone and I don't think you'll return,
But somehow that's okay.
We al had our time and we chose to burn,
Rather than just fade away,

New Material and a Winter Dirge

I've just been "digging through the crates" so to speak, and rifling through all the cardboard boxes I have in storage. Apart from a bad case of hayfever from teh dust, I found a whole new pile of crap to post :)

This one is another love song to Winter. I really had a thing for Winter. I guess I still do. This poem is about how I didn't get what I wanted one Winter and when Spring came around, I couldn't understand where it'd all gone wrong.

September Too Soon

This early arrival of Spring.
The cold grey days washed sublime with warmer blue,
The misery of the sky completed,
Is harrowing.

I had no idea that your endurance would be,
Strong enough to bear, the liquid air,
The numbness in your limbs.

You were safe through the colder days,
In your isolated and warm flat.
Crouched down by the fire place,
With an episode of Melrose Place.

Gathering up wood from the miriad suitors,
Who were only passing through.
I'd placed too much faith,
In the warmth I could provide you.

My life as a blanket is over,
The sun is out, the sheets are gone,
The sweat will embrace you soon.
You'll have no further need,
Of my enveloping worship of you,
See you next June.

Little Brown Triangle Shaped Perfect Moments

I spoke to my cousin (and co-writer of (sic)bunnie) tonight about cola-flavoured Freezas and it has prompted this post.

This is a poem I submitted to Xpress during the governments promotion of young (under 25) writers. It had a name (the promotion) and an ad campaign, but it escapes me. It was all about giving a "voice" to disenfranchised youth.

Anyway, the poem was published in Xpress and I sent a cut out copy of it to Peters confectioners in a bid to get them to make the sickly brown manna again. 3 or 4 years later they actually did.

Cola Freezas

Trashy pop culture never hurt anyone,
It’s all that there is when your life is undone,
When you’re sitting there waiting for a savior to come,
‘Cause somebody has taken out Jesus
You can sell all your dreams, take the money and run,
But they’ll never bring back Cola Freezas.

Saturday cartoons, The Six Million Dollar Man,
And that Scooby Doo aint no flash in the pan,
Well we can’t find a hero so we take who we can,
When depression’s clammy hand seizes,
We remember with fondness Luke, Leia and Han,
But they’ll never bring back Cola Freezas.

Yesterday our freedom was all that we got,
And our friends would stick by us like it or not,
The Earth that we lived on wasn’t so God damn hot,
And it didn’t take too much to please us.
We smiled so much more out of joy for our lot,
But they’ll never bring back Cola Freezas

Now we’re grown up and the rules have all changed,
And we find all those rules are a little too strange,
The life that we’re leading has been pre-arranged,
And the Government is trying to lead us,
We’ve got everything to lose and nothing to gain,
But they’ll never bring back Cola Freezas.

Think if you will back to nineteen eighty four,
And the songs that you loved but don’t hear anymore,
If you can’t see inside let me open the door,
Let me put back all of the pieces,
I can take you back through all the years lived before,
But they’ll never bring back Cola Freezas.

I Don’t Like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats,
And The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats,
And what about Breakdance let’s not forget that,
Though it didn’t take too long to leave us,
We danced roller skating to songs like Wham Rap
But they’ll never bring back Cola Freezas.

So if you’re messed up and a Slacker like me,
Live back in the past it will soon set you free,
Your memories are precious I know you will see,
These Boomers are trying to tease us,
They want us to live like them dripping with greed,
But they’ll never bring back Cola Freezas.