Tag Archives: hope

Squeeze The Clouds

10 Friday Mar 2017

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My family has been living on the land for over five

generations.

Since 1860 we have produced the finest woo in the

state.

The fleece has won more blue ribbons than you can poke

a stick at.

But now the sheep are dying out in the paddocks.

It hasn’t rained in over a year.

The clouds refuse to shed even a single tear.

 

My name is Rodney Swain and i am ten years old.

And i know that my family is hurting.

I would do anything to make them happy.

I wish that i could climb a giant ladder and reach up into

the heavens.

I would squeeze the clouds until they cry.

Cant they see that the grass is brown and dying?

So why aren’t the clouds crying?

 

Every night after the evening meal.

We would all sit out on the back porch hoping to see

lightning and the sound of thunder.

But as usual the sky is full of stars there isn’t a cloud in

sight.

How can mummy and daddy continue the fight?

 

I work beside daddy everyday before and after school

Trying to keep the farm afloat

But how can you feed your livestock when the grass id dead

And the top soil has blown away?

Sometimes i see daddy wiping the tears from his eyes as he hand

feeds the animals

As i watch him a say a little prayer. ‘Please God make it rain so daddy

can get some rest’

‘We really need some rain to  to fill the rivers and dams’

That should put on smile on the faces of all the ewes and the randy

rams’

 

But still it doesn’t rain.

Maybe if i place on top of each other and climb that that giant ladder

I can reach high enough to squeeze the clouds.

And hopefully they will co operate and release some steady rain.

Don’t they realise you can only take so much heartache and pain?

 

In wake up in the morning in sheets wet with my sweat

6 am and already the heat is stifling.

Why does summer have to be so hot?

Cant there be a season where it doesn’t get above 28 degrees

and it rains every second day?

Why does my family and all the other families have to always live

in drought?

All we need is a little precipitation.

To saturate the whole god damn nation.

 

The situation is getting drastic.

We reply on the rain for our very existence.

It hasn’t rained in three long years.

Today the temperature is forecast to reach 43 degrees

And the following will be more of the same.

The girl on the weather channel predicts the weather with a smile

She says there wont be any rain for quite a while.

 

How can she smile when families on the land are hurting?

Doesn’t she know that farmers are killing themselves?

Because the clouds refuse to yield

Bills still need to be paid and everyone has to eat.

There is never enough money to go around.

All because of a lack of water.

Why doesn’t it rain so win can win the fight and stop the slaughter?

 

Maybe if i stack the three on top of five barns.

I will be able to climb the giant ladder and squeeze the clouds.

Until they start to weep.

Than we can all rest easy and finally get some sleep.

 

Another three months has gone by.

And still the clouds refuse to budge.

They turn black and threaten a down pour.

But it is all just sound and bluster.

Soon all of the clouds disappear over the horizon.

And once again it is clear skies sunshine and heat.

My family and the community are all strong.

But this time i think they are beat.

 

Maybe if i stack the three tractors on top of the five barns

along with seven houses.

I can climb the giant ladder and reach up and squeeze the clouds.

And they will open up and supply us all with days of steady rain.

So it can soak into the earth and turn the grass green

Fill all of the rivers creeks dams and water tanks.

I would look up into the clouds and scream THANKS

 

Another six months has passed.

And there hasn’t been a single drop.

So once again i start to think.

What if i stacked the three tractors on top of the five barns.

Along with the seven farm houses.

Than if i added nine skyscrapers  i could climb that giant ladder

And squeeze the clouds and those fuckers will relent to my touch.

Cause when you think about i am not really asking for much.

 

Sorry for saying the swear word out loud.

Please don’t tell mummy or daddy because i would get a belting.

I promise not to do it again,now where was i ?

 

‘Rodney’

I am startled to hear my mummy’s voice.

And also to find myself standing on the roof of our house.

Jumping up and down doing a rain dance.

‘Get down from there right this minute,or you will get a belting

you wont forget in a hurry’

I don’t know what i am doing,but i start to chant and pray.

I close my eyes and imagine those three tractors stacked on top of

the five barns.

Along with the seven farm houses with the nine skyscrapers.

I see myself climbing that giant ladder and reaching up to

squeeze the clouds.

 

And do you know what?

I can feel my fingers getting wet.

So i squeeze a little harder and the clouds finally release.

And send down the much needed rain.

Finally my family and all of the other farmers can look to the future

With a fresh attitude and a soggy smile.

Because i think the rain is going to be here for quite a while.

 

 

THE END.

I Wish

03 Friday Mar 2017

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I wish that i was tall and handsome

But alas i am short and stubby.

People in the streets call me fat.

But y’know i am only slightly chubby.

 

I wish that i was more out going

Instead of being an over sensitive guy

And even though i know the answer

I still ask myself the question Why?

 

I wish that i was a higher power

Than i could cure all diseases.

Than the people that i love and cherish

Will no longer have to die.

My eyes would shine and sparkle with happiness

And no have to cry.

 

I wish that my mother and father stop arguing

And just talk to one another.

Because they did love each other once upon a time.

They live in the same house just not together.

The house is surrounded by very stormy weather

 

I wish that the earth was flat.

Than i could push all the bad people over the edge

I would listen to them screaming all the way down

I know it is wrong but i think i would enjoy that sound

 

I wish that i was a prize fighter

Fighting for the heavyweight title

Instead of being a world champion wimp

But i suppose it could be worse.

I could wake up as the pulp fiction gimp

 

I wish that people of different races and religion

Could all just be at peace.

But all they do is fight because of creed and different

coloured skin.

But we are all human beings of the same kin

 

I wish that i could see things in black and white

Because sometimes distorts the starkness

And though though i enjoy the light

I also welcome the darkness

 

I wish that my pen would stop moving around the paper

But it likes to form words

But sometimes the words aren’t quite right

And i need to take a rest

But still my pen continues to write

It can sometimes be a real pest

 

I wish that i was more popular

Than i could hang with all the cool people

I could bask in the limelight

And smell the decadence and wealth

But at the same time i like to live behind the curtain

of stealth.

 

I wish that there were no more wars

But mankind has been fighting each other

Ever since they started to live in caves

It is now 2017 so  people lay down your weapons

And start to fucking behave

 

I wish that i was famous

My face would grace the cover of all the magazines

I could be a celebrity for no particular reason

Just like that family of Kardashians

I could have my own television series

For way too many seasons

 

I wish that a had a pet

A cat or maybe a dog

Than i would have to be a responsible adult

If i owned a dog i would have to feed it take it for walks

and pay huge bills at the vet

So on second thought i don’t really want a pet

 

I wish that i was a man of mystery

But i am just your average joe

I have a normal job and live in an ordinary house

I mow the lawn and take out the trash

Just like everybody else

And they is the way that i like it

I wouldn’t change not even a bit

 

Except maybe …..

 

What do you wish for?

Go ahead and make a wish

You never know it might come true

But it more than likely wont

Just close your eyes and make a wish

But don’t say it out loud

Keep it to yourself

Wish

 

 

THE END

 

Temporary Tomb (Part Two)

17 Saturday Sep 2016

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In part one of this story eight year old Tommy Tucker has been

abducted on his way home from school.

Tommy is the tenth little boy to go missing from the Coffs Harbour

area.

None of the other boys has been seen since.

 

Tommy has been taken to a farm house in the hinterland.

Where he is held captive in an old mine shaft.

About the same size as a small bathroom.

He is chained by his ankle to an steel pole.

With a small bucket for a toilet and an old lantern hanging on the

wall provides the only light.

 

Up in the farm house his abductor is staring into space.

He is really hoping that this boy is the one.

For three years he has searching for a replacement son.

He lost his own son to cancer.

And since that time he has been looking for a Simon lookalike.

 

This boy thought that he could deceive him.

And for that he will die down in the hole.

He looks out to his fields to where he has buried the other nine

boys.

Now he will have to dig a hole for another one.

 

Part Two.

Tommy has been held captive for three days now.

His abductor has given him very little food.

And only a few cupfuls of water.

And even though he hasn’t had much to eat he has visited the

bucket a few  times.

Now it is really starting to smell.

Tommy misses his mummy all he wants to do is go home.

 

His abductor isn’t at the farmhouse.

He is out in his car trolling the streets for another Simon.

It has only been three days since he  abducted the boy down in the

hole.

His needs are getting stronger.

But all he has found so far is little deceivers who pretend to be Simon.

Now those deceivers are buried out in his fields.

All except one.

 

He is just about to head on home when he spots a Simon lookalike up

ahead riding a skateboard.

He pulls alongside the kid and yells out the window ‘Simon get into the car

right now’.

The kid tells him that his name isnt Simon and that he must  be confusing him

for another kid.

‘Get in the car right now i am your father’

 

The boy notices the crazy look on the mans face and tries to back away.

But he isn’t quite quick enough and he is dragged in through the window

of the car and pushed to the floor.

‘Why do these little deceivers try to trick me ?

‘They pretend to be Simon and force me to do bad things.’

 

Soon they both arrive at the farm house.

The kid has no idea what is happening as he is led into the backyard

Where the crazy man pulls away a sheet of iron.

And he is told to climb down.

 

The abductor follows the boy down into the shaft ‘Jesus what is that smell?’

Tommy points at the bucket ‘Sorry mister’

The abductor lets out a curse of disgust ‘For fuck sake i will be right back’

 

Tommy tells the new kid’Quick climb out and go and get help’

But the kid is frightened out of his wits ‘I cant the crazy man will kill me’

Tommy cant believe it ‘Okay see that lantern over there grab it and bring it

over here’

The new kid grabs the lantern and hands it to Tommy.

 

Tommy puts the lantern on the floor near them.

But not too close.

He just hopes that the abductor doesn’t notice.

 

They hear the sound of the iron cover being moved.

Than the abductor appears with a new clean bucket.

But no food or water.

Than he chains the new kid to the pole and leaves without saying

a word.

 

Thank Christ the whack job didn’t notice that the lantern had been moved.

Because has come up with a brilliant plan of escape.

He grabs the lantern and takes off the glass cover and holds the binding

chain over the flame.

‘God i hope this works’ But after half an hour nothing seems to be happening

Than slowly but surely the chain becomes red hot.

Tommy turns to the new kid ‘When the chain breaks i will go and get help so

just sit tight’

 

The new kid is hysterical ‘If the crazy man comes back and finds you gone he will

kill me for sure’

Tommy knows that the new kid is right ‘Okay hold your chain near the flame but don’t

get your hands too close’

 

The abductor has been busy as well.

He is out in his field digging two small swallow graves.

It takes a lot of work but it has to be done.

The sooner that those two deceivers are in the ground the better.

 

Tommy is keen to make a run for it ‘Quick before the man comes back’

The new kid knows that he is holding Tommy back.

But with a sudden twang the chain snaps.

 

They both jump up and down all excited now to get the fuck out of here.

They race to the ladder and start to climb.

But than they hear the sound of the cover being removed.

Tommy whispers ‘Quick go back to where you were and hold your hands

behind your back so the crazy man cant see that we are free’

 

Both boys sit on the ground and try to look nonchalent.

The abductor climbs down the ladder with a bag full of food.

‘I have been to MacDonald’s and bought some burgers and fries

Even the condemned get to eat a final meal’

Than the abductors mobile phone begins to ring ‘For fuck sake what now?

Okay i will be there yes i know that it is important Bye’

 

Than the abductor notices the lantern on the floor ‘How did that get there?’

Tommy pipes up ‘You left it there when you changed the shit bucket’

The abductor looks at Tommy with steely eyes.

Then he bends and hangs the lantern back on the wall.

And with one last look at the boys he is gone.

 

Tommy cant believe it.

The abductor has left his mobile phone behind.

Tommy grabs the phone and dials triple 000 and as calmly as he can he tells

the dispatcher who he is and the location as best as he knows.

The dispatcher tells Tommy to put the phone back where he found it but leave

it switched so the police can use it to track there location.

 

At police headquarters tells detectives Coverdale and Hughes about the phone call.

Finally they have a breakthrough the phone call has been traced to a farm house

in the Coffs Harbour hinterland.

And twenty police officers race to the scene.

 

At the farm house Tommy and the new kid decide that it is now or never.

So they climb the ladder and push the iron cover aside.

Tommy is surprised to see the daylight he has grown used to the dark.

He and the new kid take in their surroundings and look for the whack job.

Than they race as fast as they can down the long driveway.

 

At that moment the abductor is looking out to the killing fields.

When he sees the two boys running towards freedom.

And after screaming a few obscenities he takes off after them.

 

Both boys are only halfway down the driveway when they hear foot steps

behind them.

They have a quick scared look behind them.

And they know that they will never make it.

The abductor grabs both boys by the scruff of the neck and starts to drag

them back towards the farm house.

 

 

But than ten police cars turn into the driveway.

The abductor is caught like a deer in the headlights.

To stunned to move.

 

The police fan out.

And detective Coverdale screams at him to let the boys go.

The abductor knows that he is done for as he looks at the police with

their guns drawn.

So he comes to a decision.

If he cant see Simon in this life he will see him in the afterlife.

 

He kisses both Tommy and the new kid goodbye.

And runs straight toward the police reaching behind for his gun.

BANG BANG BANG the abductor falls to the ground a bloody heap.

And he has died with a smile on his face.

Maybe he will see Simon again in a better place.

 

 

THE END.

Genie In A Lamp

01 Friday Jan 2016

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On Saturday mornings before I do my shopping

And run some errands

I like to go to the garage sales in my neighbourhood

I usually look for CDs Books and Plants

But sometimes I spend more Money then I should

 

On this particular Saturday morning

I slept in and was I was running a bit late

If you don’t get there early

The good stuff will already have been sold

But a bargain can still be had

You just have to sort through the good from the bad

 

I was looking at the selection on the Two Dollar Table

When out of the corner of my Eye

I spotted this Bottle shaped Lamp

Well I caught my breath and my Hands got all sweaty

Surely it couldn’t be?

This was exactly the same as the Lamp on that old TV show

‘I Dream Of Jeannie’

It was about 16 inches tall with a Glass Stopper

A Bargain for any savvy shopper

 

I couldn’t believe my Eyes

But I tried to stay calm

I grabbed that Lamp paid my Two Dollars

And I got out of there as fast as I could

Just like any bargain hunter would

 

Well I did my shopping and my errands

And then I drove home on Auto Pilot

My thoughts were consumed by that Lamp

My Hands were still shaking and damp

I could barely grip the Steering Wheel

Cause a Genie In A Lamp is a very big deal

 

God my Car is slower then a three legged Turtle

I only bought it cause I like the colour Purple

I am being overtaken by Pedestrians and a Guy

on a Bike

That Guy is a neighbour I think his name is Mike

 

Well I finally arrive home

I carry my shopping and that Lamp into my place

My Heart is beating double time

My breathing can barely keep pace

But first I unpack my shopping and change my Clothes

What is inside that Lamp?

Well nobody really knows

 

I cant take the tension anymore

So I go and lock all of the Doors

And then I pick up that Lamp

I grip it so tightly I get a freaking cramp

I take off the Stopper and peer into the opening

My nerves are shot

And my Eyes aren’t coping

It is dark inside like Aladdins Cave

But someone is down there giving me a little wave

 

So I put the Lamp on the Kitchen Table

And I start rubbing

And then the Room fills with Smoke

And out pops this weird little old Bloke

 

Where is Barbara Eden when you need her?

Instead I am stuck with this skinny old Cur

He looks a bit like Uriah Heep or maybe Ebenezer

Scrooge

Just my luck

Now I have got the Genie In A Lamp  blues

 

He is dressed like a cross between Marcel Marceu and a

Circus Acrobat

He sticks out his Hand

And tells me that his name is Blat

Well I guess beggars cant be choosers

Who cares if the Genie is young or old

I am just lucky he has arrived into my fold

The Elderly are always calmer and wiser

I just hope that my Genie isn’t a money miser

 

I tell Blat that I was expecting a Genie of the Female

persuasion

He said to ‘Just relax and enjoy the occasion’

 

Blat tells that he has been a Genie for one hundred

generations or more

But who is really keeping score

He thinks he was born in Romania Bulgaria or maybe

The Balkans

Jesus Blat sure does a lot of talking

I wish he would shut up and grant me my wishes

While he is talking I go and wash the dishes

 

When I return Blat is no longer around

Then from the Lamp I hear a little sound

I hold the Lamp up to my Ear

And then I look down the Neck

And can see Blat picking up some scatter Cushions

And maybe a Magic Wand?

I want my three wishes

But I don’t want to keep pushing

 

Blat arranges the Cushions

And he sits in a cross legged pose

I hope I come out of this smelling like a Rose?

But I have a feeling that Blat is stalling

I think that my wishes might be free falling

 

Blat looks me right in the Eye

And he says that he has a confession to make

He is a Charleton a complete fake

He is only filling in while his niece is on Holidays

The working conditions are bad

But it really pays

 

So there are no three wishes for me

No Millions of Dollars

No living forever

No endless supply of my favourite Beer

If Blat cant give me any Christmas cheer

He might as well get the fuck out of here

 

Blat is full of apologises that he cant grant me my wishes

But these things are sometimes hits or misses

He tells me to just leave the Lamp on the Table

And in the Morning He and the Lamp will be gone

 

Then he gives me a hug goodbye

And then He is gone in a puff of smoke

Even though he couldn’t grant me my wishes

Blat wasn’t such a bad Bloke

 

I pick up the Lamp and I have one last look inside

Blat is sitting there all sad and lonely

I nearly cried

It isn’t his fault that he was just Holiday relief

What goes around comes around

That is my belief

 

Blat was true to his word

Cause in the morning the Lamp had disappeared

And there was static in the air that felt kind of weird

I got Goosebumps my Skin started to tingle

Maybe next time I will meet Blats Niece

And hopefully She will be single

 

I still go to the garage sales every Saturday morning

In the hope of finding that Lamp again

I feel empty

Like I am in mourning

I will find that Goddamn Lamp again

Any which way I can.