Tuesday, May 14, 2013

a little magic in king street...

“(What makes this world so hard to see clearly is not its strangeness but its usualness).
Familiarity can blind you too.” (Robert M Persig)
 
 
i.
 
I'm just looking
for a girl that don't mind
that I don't dance so good /
 
Who am I
to promise her the moon?
 
I've stopped looking
for someone on this crowded dancefloor
who will
 
let me lead.
 
Scientists & doctors
are injecting stars
into my failed
second-hand cornea
 
while I pretend to sleep.
 
And for the briefest of moments,
I can see strangers at bus stops
in broad daylight;
 
offering each other
familiarity and a little magic
 
in the middle of King Street,
under painted Martin Luther
dream & moon.
 
Who am I
to offer you the moon?
 
Mere moments
or a lifetime;
Amongst the chaos & bustle,
we talk like old friends...
 
Finding salmon pink,
art-making
and memories of Mt. Victoria bus tunnels
in a distant, shaky Capital
at the bottom of the world.
 
I too
left more than a little of my heart
in that tunnel.
 
Not once,
 but twice.
 
 (perhaps even three times)
 
Who am I to offer you the moon?
Instead, I offer you
a tiny jar of Nutella.
 
You offer me tobacco,
I decline.
 
I am enchanted.
 
I close my eyes after you have gone,
picture your last dance
at the doors of a big, blue bus
that came at just the right
 
magic moment.
 
Or perhaps, too soon?
 
Leaving me with a painted
Martin Luther
dream & moon.
 
Words tumble in my head.
I think of
lemon stained words blazing
on ignited paper.
 
Art can be smelt & tasted, too.
Perfect for this legally blind artist
to appreciate.
 
Go!!
Go out there
 
Gem Girl,
Girl of Light & Magic!!!
 
Make your
(no longer of this plane) Nan
& white-furred feline friend
 
proud!!
 
Armed with
only your art & words
and tobacco
 
(and damn fine smile)
 
set this earth on fire!!
 
 
ii.
 
Yes.
 
I too
have left more than a little
of this fierce,
fire-filled,
fast beating
 
artist's heart
 
in dark
Mt. Victoria bus tunnels.
 
I even spent my last
three years in Wellington
living in a tiny bedsit
in Scarborough Terrace...
 
...just two minutes walk away
from that very same tunnel.
 
For a brief moment,
two artists danced
with words and hearts and heads.
 
And just for the record,
 
just before you leapt up
to catch your bus,
I was just about
to lean over
 
and whisper in your ear:
 
"When you talk about your art,
   my dear,
 
   I can smell and taste
   your
   beautiful & pure
 
   white-light soul..."
 
 
 
iii.
 
I have just survived
a long, twelve hour train-trip
home...
 
It is morning now.
I am somewhat sleep deprived.
 
The lightbulb that blew
in my lounge room
the morning I departed for Sydney
is just as I left it.
 
Yes, the lounge is dark.
But my kitchen
 
is bathed in pure light!!
 
I sit here
in my tiny,
sun-drenched kitchen,
 
birdsong and Autumn whispering
through the
open back door.
 
I am practising that
beautiful ritual we discussed
of the
 
first coffee
of the morning...
 
The mug
warms my fingertips.
 
I think of you /
 
somewhere in the big-ness of Sydneytown,
starting your day,
 
and your
magical morning ritual
of coffee too.
 
I look at the tiny
sample jar of Nutella
on my kitchen table
 
and I smile.
 
And I begin to ponder,
to wonder
where (and whom)
I've left
in this world
 
my well-worn & read copy of:
 
"Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".
 
 
(-for Paloma)
 
 
(c) Brent M Harpur, 13 May, 2013.
 
"Artist! You are a magician: Art is the great miracle!!" (Peladan)
 
“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone.”
(Robert M Pirsig)


Sunday, May 5, 2013

tiny heart / shell...

 
 
 
Once,
while out walking by the sea,
I found a tiny shell on the beach.
 
I held it up to my ear,
and heard
a tiny heartbeat inside.
 
And at that beautiful, yet brief
 tender-like-the-tide moment
 
I realised
it wasn't a shell at all,
 
but a tiny heart.
 
Your heart.
 
And as I held it to my ear,
I heard the sounds of:
 
tail tangled seahorses riding on waves,
 
distant satellites chirping & chattering, serenading the stars,
 
waves laplaplapping on sea-worn hulls,
 
lighthouses guiding but not assisting,
 
hermit crabs moving house for the sixteenth time this year.
 
And I also heard
amongst all these other
sea-like sounds,
 
(in this tiny heart-shell)...
 
my heart.
 
And the sunset tonight
is the brightest, most intense orange
 
I have ever seen.
 
 
 
(c) Brent M Harpur, 2013.
 
- For JKH.
 
"Please / Man ain't supposed to live alone / No that ain't what he needs / He needs to find a home /    With someone else that needs a man / A man that needs a home / Man ain't supposed to live alone."
(Josh Ritter)