‘Hounds of Love’

Local writer/director Ben Young, has hit the heights with his debut feature nurtured by PAC Screen Workshops and our Perth film community.  Can’t wait to wallow in memories of 1980’s Perth and the glorious America’s Cup days again. Well done, Ben Young & Team!

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/32168684/writer-s-debut-film-to-screen-in-venice/#page1

 

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Awesome!

I’ve been nominated for the Awesome blogger award by The Fluff Is Raging.  Thank you Niall McArdle.  Though not sure why…

http://www.westernaustralia-travellersguide.com/perth-australia-beach.html

Perhaps because I live 10 mins North of Hillarys Boat Harbour.

http://www.westernaustralia.com/au/Things_to_See_and_Do/Sun_Surf_and_Sea_Life/Pages/Beaches.aspx

Although I don’t like sand or surfing but spend hours in coffee shops gazing over the ocean at Mullaloo…

I suspect, it’s because (like Niall) film and particularly Australian Films like The Sapphires  The Dressmaker  or  Red Dog are a passion of mine.

The Rules:

#1. Copy and paste the image with the rules.

#2. Share one thing that you thing that makes you truly awesome.

#3. Nominate other bloggers for the award. 

 

 

https://cinemaaustralia.com.au/

 

 

 

 

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Train ride.

Traveller

 

train conversations drift

snippets of gossip

electronic reassurance

folded into the seat

it’s safer to stare

at your own reflection

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2003 

*1st Published in ‘Hidden Capacity ~ a poet’s journey’ Ireland 2003, MMB.

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #BOOK:HiddenCapacity  #BOOK:RailTales  #Poetry  #TrainPoems

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“Trips into Town”

 

Mitchell Freeway photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

The train I catch to the city rides on a railway line between the North and South lanes of the Mitchell Freeway.  I loved gazing at the cars streaming on their way to or from work.  Comfortable in the air-conditioned, clean and very fast, with someone-else-driving carriage, I filled my notebooks as other commuters wondered what I was saying about them.

Short stories and poems written on my train journeys between Edgewater Station and Perth City, appeared in my book  Hidden Capacity ~ a poet’s journey  and later  separately, in my Rail Tales chapbook. (Both books are sold out.)

Trips into Town.

However, there is a game I play on my way to work. Wearing my HBF corporate uniform, another day of routine smiles and customer queries beckons.

When the no-name monotony gets too much, I shrug off that persona and step into my imagination.

On the most normal and usual of journeys to and from work, strange things happen because I wear the seahorse broach my son gave me for my birthday. It seems that when I touch it, caress it, the cold metal seems to warm.

I can actually feel his love, the time he took to find exactly the right broach, the money he saved and his joy when I opened the wrapping, laughing and smiling with obvious delight.

A different me seemed to take over: moveable me, a nebulous entity able to drift like an invisible tide on air thick with wanting. I could change my life – become someone else by feeling envy or wishing for what others seemed to have…

Though the first time it happened, I was terrified.

Work at the Bank held no attraction that day.  In fact, I had finished up the previous day out of balance, fully expecting my pretentious I-play-the-game supervisor to take me to task.  Not a workday to look forward to.

So with the announcement “Next station Perth”, I was focusing my energies on someone who seems to have it all.

As we squealed into the Leederville Tunnel, the lights flickered then dimmed. I don’t know why but in that fraction of black, a thrill of anticipation ran through me.

The last person I concentrated on wore a lot of good jewellery, expensive clothes, bag and shoes.  She was attractive, with immaculate nails.  When the lights burned fully again, I was wearing the expensive clothes, lots of jewellery and immaculate nails. I had shed myself, metamorphosed into this perfect being.

What next?

Unlimited credit cards, meeting a friend for lunch on The Terrace, more shopping – check out the bank account and then, pop into the Italian jewellery for a new bracelet. I would of course decline dinner at the Hyatt because I have to get back to feed my cat.

Do I still have a cat?  Who’ll feed Soxies?

This dream couldn’t last and I had to try to return to my own skin but first, I had to find myself.  A creature of habit, I make sure I get the same train every night, waiting in the usual place on Platform 2 with sore feet and tired stance.

Just managing to board before the doors swished shut, I gratefully sat down. As the carriage pulled away from the station, I placed ‘her’ handbag between my feet.

We swayed to the left and the lights flickered then dimmed. There’s the fraction of black again and I concentrated, staring at ‘myself’ two seats away, firmly clutching Angela’s purchases.

It couldn’t really happen. My family would wonder how I managed to acquire such gorgeous clothes and new jewellery on my wage. They’d think I had a secret admirer and why weren’t they told?

They don’t know about the games I play to relieve the boredom. 

It’s all in my head of course…

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2001

 

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #BOOK:HiddenCapacity  #BOOK:RailTales  #Prose&Poetry  #Poetry  #ShortStories  #FrancesMacaulayForde  #TrainStories  #RidingTheRails  #TrainWriting  #TrainStories

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Boxes

‘City Scape’ FMF © 2003

 

Boxes

 

so much time

spent in boxes

hemming minds

hearts horizons

 

so many boxes

to spend time in

we choose

others dictate

 

boxes to play

or earn a living

sky-high mine deep

beach view asleep

 

boxed we’re born

returned again

bush delivery or

crispy clean

 

symbolic boxes

that drive insane

chasing a dream

others ideals

 

boxing all pleasure

imprisoning pain

impossible striving

material gain

 

in every life

the very last box

delivers a eulogy

all gather to see

 

illustrating a life

lived in boxes

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2009

 

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #POEM:Boxes  #Poem  #ART:CityScape  #Trapped #CityBoxes #BoxLikeHouses  #Poetry  #CitySkyscrapers  #Boxes  #Limited  #Existance  #LivingInBoxes

 

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Cell Phones

MOBILES

 

Trendy shades that click to match.

Invisible.

Except for what looks like a hearing aid

turning us all into

business buskers barking at buildings.

 

And it’s natural to turn

when someone says ‘Hello’.

 

You even get a choice now.

Number display.

Answer or reject.

Interruptions.

(Blasted ‘Call Waiting’.)

Choose to ignore the insistent beeping

and inevitably

others can’t resist the burning question.

 

Favourite songs are ruined forever

by ringing interpretations.

 

Courtesy has gone out the window.

Lunch breaks deleted.

Performances interrupted.

Moving movie moments spoilt.

 

Availability questioned

by “This mobile is turned off”.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2001

(First published ‘Hidden Capacity ~ a poet’s journey’, 2003, Cork, Ireland.)

 

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #PHOTO:SunGazing  #POEM:Mobiles  #CellPhones  #Poetry  #HiddenCapacityFMF

 

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Down Town

Jean, through her Social Bridge blog, has inspired this posting by asking to see a version of down town.  It’s hard to get me out of the bat cave as I don’t often venture into town if I can avoid it, but when I do it’s usually for a meeting at the cultural centre, so straight to that carpark and up the lift to the meeting rooms.  I don’t dilly dally.  Not good with large crowds.

The Bat Cave.

My down town couldn’t be more different to Jean’s, so to give you some idea; I live in the (near) northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, 29.5km from the city which takes 26 minutes by very fast train.  (When I choose to drive often the train overtakes me while I do the speed limit of 100k – the train, it seems, has no such limit.)   

When I was studying for my degree between 1998 and 2001, I frequently used the train to go from home to Mt Lawley and WAAPA or ECU Campus.  I kept a notebook of poems and prose, ‘Rail Tales’ was re-printed in 2012

“Rail Tales” re-published chapbook, 2012

 

I did do a ‘Coming home, 2003’  blog entry with lots of photos of the car trip, taken when we returned from Ireland.

Ocean Reef Road leading to the sea, 5 min from where I live.

I recently Re-Blogged a post about our city which has amazing photos of the buildings; “Perth, is that you?”

From the blog entry “Perth, is that you?’

Everyone drives a car here, it’s necessary because there are distances involved in going anywhere.

“Two Rocks is an outer suburb at the northern edge of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia, Australia, located 61 kilometres north of the city’s central business district.”

My hubby does most of the shopping because we run a small food production business (registered) from home and I hate shopping.  If I go when I’m hungry, I buy all the worst goodies; so best I don’t go and I hate shopping for clothes.  I’m a maker, so my favourite shops are also within 5min (Spotlight) and 9min (Office Works) respectively.

Coat made for a recent wedding.

As I mentioned, I very seldom go down town.  We have wonderful shopping centres near us ranging from HUGE (Whitfords City, Lakeside, Joondalup just one train stop away North or South, or 5 -10 mins by car) to smaller local shops with a large supermarket plus more than 20 retail outlets including hairdressers, chemist and post office plus the obligatory fast food outlets, within walking distance of home.

However, I do often drive down south (skirting the city) to visit my children and grandchildren; a trip of 50.2km there and another 50.2km home again.  The city boundaries extend about the same distance down south.  This map shows the Transperth Zones where my children live in Zone 3 to give you an idea of the distances.

Depending on the time of day the trip can take anything from 42min to more than 60 min  each way on our freeway, so I usually leave at home 10am and get back before 3.30pm.

Always worth doing; my grandies are (naturally) adorable and because it’s cold and wintery at the moment, I’m busy making beanies for them in various colours.  Of course, that means lots of trips to Spotlight for more wool and perhaps some more material for dresses, dollies etc…

What are you focussed on – right now?

    

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #BOOK:RailTales  #DownTown  #PerthCity  #TwoRocks  #NorthernSuburbs

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T.A.G. Hungerford

When I met 90 year old Tom, he was a West Australian Living Treasure and an absolute gentleman.

Also the winner of the Patrick White Award in 1992, Tom was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1988 for services to literature, the author of many novels, including The Ridge and The River, Sowers of the Wind, Swagbelly, Birdsnatcher and The Prince of Siam.

He’d been writing for 60 years and celebrated his 90th birthday with a collection of stories & poems which illustrated his life.

At the official launch, I sat in selfish wonder listening to the magnificent voice of Jack Thompson booming, blasting passion into the masterly poetry and prose of T.A.G. Hungerford’s new book.

Taken from the back cover of  What’s Happened to Joseph?:  “With dazzling ease he moves from prose to poetry, from the ancient past to the present, from the small, absorbing passions of suburbia to the grim demands of jungle warfare. Hungerford makes us wonder just what did happen to Joseph, farther of Jesus Christ- did he continue to work in his carpenters trade, perhaps in Jerusalem – then takes us to the heart of Anzac Day, to the shimmering colours of outback Australia, or to his own front garden, and with every word he illuminates our own experience.”  

I loved every word of his book and want everyone to enjoy his insight, his sensitivity and his ability to place me right there, where he was when writing them.

‘ANZAC Day’ is a poem I believe would work well on screen; the opening lines; dense, establishing and heartfelt:

“This spot at the corner of Pier Street and the Terrace

between two churches – Presbyterian one side,

C. of E. on the other – is just made to order

for us Second Eighth blokes to form up for the March

this mild April morning.  Wild men we were, all of us.”

When Tom allowed me to host ‘An Afternoon With Tom’ during a very special Poet’s Corner event, devoted entirely to him, the place was packed with lovers of words wanting to hear him read and provide further insight to his writing.

T.A.G. Hungerford graciously allowed me to interview him for BOOKS Australia during Poets Corner. FMF © 2006

Kevin Gillam playing ‘Fascination’ for “An Afternoon with Tom” at Pages Cafe during Poets Corner. FMF © 2006

The last poem in his book; ‘Fascination Waltz’ is another favorite and made me cry.  That’s why I asked Kevin Gillam, a fellow poet, admirer of Tom and professional cellist to play ‘Fascination’.  I felt the love and saw a tear in Tom’s eye, too.

Although he’s gone now I still think of him and his words, often. I treasure the firstly hand-written, then typed letters we exchanged and an (as far as I know) unpublished poem “Grey Ghost”, which would also make a fantastic film.

I want to pay a larger tribute and help make his writings available to more by getting them up on the big screen. Any producers out there, interested?

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #TAGHungerford  #What’sHappenedToJoseph? #JackThompson  #Stories&Poems   #Poetry  #KevinGillam  #PoetsCorner  #PagesCafe

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100 years of ANZACS

“Last Post” Dawn Service, Perth.

 

A hundred years ago, they walked away.

They smiled goodbye, we smiled and waved.

How could we know where their fate lay.

 

So proud to serve, they followed orders,

macho back-slapping excited shoulders,

thousands of potential lambs to slaughter.

 

Still we send our bravest to answer the call,

counting the cost on Anzac Day with poppy walls.

A hundred years later have we learned at all?

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2015

 

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #100YearsANZACS   #AnzacDay  #Poem

 

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POEM: Umbrella Sea

Concept drawing from ‘Raincheck’ Exhibition © Jessica McCallum 2010.

Umbrella Sea

I look down

umbrella sea

snaking between

shiny metal towers

separate

still me

 

a strong wind

searching for red

among the grey

pushing risk

frisking

steering

toward decision

 

do I leap

air-dance Nike-like

raindrop  steps

merge the blue  

sky-reach

take a chance

with you

 

I am Luke

sky walker

sweet talker

calculated

risk taker

love maker

 

potential heart beaker

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2010

#FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #POEM:UmbrellaSea  #ARTIST:JessicaMcCallum  #EXHIB:Raincheck  #Poem  #Umbrella  #Love  #Heartbreak

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