Red

Jessica McCallum © 2003

 

RED is supposed to be

fiery tempered

liable to catch alight

at any time, smouldering

 

heat – just waiting

to ignite – right?

That’s on the outside…

Her surface simmers

 

but inside she’s easily hurt,

has no confidence and

feels fat when she isn’t.

She just wants to be

 

loved for who she is.

Wants someone to see

past her red hair and

the stereo-typing.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2007

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #POEM:Red  #poetry  #identity

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The Prima Ballerina.

 

 

Vincente Romero © 2007-2009

 

As I’m focused on picture books for children through my 12 x 12  challenge, I’ve also just enrolled in a class on The Art of the Picture Book illustration class with Shadra Strickland.

(Of course, I could never be as good as Vincente Romaro who’s paintings I’ve just discovered!)

So for a ‘tester’ project, I’m going to use a poem I wrote many years ago (and I mean many) in the early 60’s called “The Prima Ballerina”.

I hope to show you how I adapt it to a PB and slowly, how I have a go at illustrating it too…

 

The Prima Ballerina

She lives in a world of fairy tales,

all fantasy, happiness and woe. 

 

Floating across the stage in tulle,

fine silk or organza.,

 

softly pirouettes through the mist,

or dies upon the snow. 

 

This is the world of Ballet

of the Prima Ballerina.

 

So lithe and slim, so beautiful,

so graceful and serene. 

 

On stage, supremely untouchable

yet so frail behind the scenes. 

 

She’s the Queen of the ‘Corps de Ballet’,

the star with the golden feet, 

 

dancing her way through ‘Petruska’,

‘Swan Lake’ or the ‘Nutcracker Suite’.

 

The audience, transfixed with awe,

watch silently, as in a dream,

 

for gripped by suspense and beauty

 – such as they’ve never seen! 

 

They observe the scenery so real,

the superbly made costumes,

 

but their eyes are fixed on the ‘Bluebird’

and all it’s fine blue plumes.

 

And when the ballet is done,

And encore after encore taken.

 

And baskets and bouquets

of flowers dispensed….

 

There’s a feeling of despair and longing

at the end of such unforgettable enchantment.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 1968

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #1968Notebook  #POEM:ThePrimaBallerina  #poetry  #Ballet

#Children’sPictureBooks  #Illustration  #TheArtOfPictureBook  #ShadraStrickland  #12x12Challenge

#ARTIST:VincenteRomaro

 

 

 

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Website Walking

Jessica McCallum © 1999

 

I wrote this piece at Uni 15 years ago and could not have foreseen just how radically the WWW would:

impact my life and show me how to step into love again…

effect the world; it’s so much easier to share our IDEAS (good or not so)…

hardcover BOOKS (hand held) went out but are in fashion again…

UNFORTUNATELY  whole countries can make the web world go dark on a whim.

 

Website Walking

When keyboard-bashing signs and space,

I seldom see a familiar

face. Though it’s possible now to

meet, see, hear, your dream (but not touch)

 

drift-mouse over tiles – double click.

Life-secrets revealed through window

layers.  Welcome to my website!

Cerebral sex, flirting on-line,

 

erases the risk of truth. Be

anyone for everyone on

the safe world wide web of deceit.

Construct a distant mirage for

 

the lonely, scared, ugly, who

can’t fit the ideal, to compete.

Click here – Click where? Comment. E-mail.

Enter my world and ‘know’ me there!

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © University 1999 – 2001

(1st Published in Guardian On-line, 2000 and ‘Hidden Capacity’, Ireland, 2003.)

@FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #WebsiteWalking  #WorldWideWeb

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Art as the Spark: Orchid

Jessica McCallum © 2010  ‘All the pretty ones are…’

Orchid

With a Naturists eye

Infinite care, such

considered placement

A fern fond here

A gum leaf there

 

Pink & yellow

Dried petals

Delicate veins

Like a wedding veil

Placed in the center

of our two-tiered cake

an orchid appears

A most exotic,

rare orchid

like me.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2007

@FrancesMForde  #ARTIST:JessicaMcCallum #CreativeConnections  #ArtIsTheSpark   #Romance  #POEM:Orchid

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Hello…Will you… I do.

There’s this cute idea making the rounds on Instagram :

1. Where you met your partner,

2. Where they proposed

3. Where you said “I do”.

I’d love to participate but I don’t have a smart phone or Instagram account.

However, I will participate, as much as I can.

1. 1973 Kitwe, Zambia at an audition for a keyboard player with the band ‘Paper Lace’.

  

 2.  In his town house, St Mary’s Road, Midleton, Ireland, June 2003.

  

3.  Hillarys Boat Harbour, Western Australia, November 2003.

  

@FrancesMForde  #Midleton,Cork  #Kitwe,Zambia  #HillarysBoatHarbour,WA  #Love  #Romance

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TV shows from my childhood…

BIll & Ben Flower Pot Men, updated.

A fellow blogger posted this today and brought back so many memories.

Although I was 16 when she was born, I loved Andy Pandy;   “Here we go Looby Loo, here we go Looby Li, here we go Looby Loo, all on a Satuday night.”

Also Bill & Ben when I was very young in the UK, then later when I had children of my own, we watched Mr Squiggle, Play School and  Sesame Street, together.

I’m surprised Louise didn’t mention Noddy & Big Ears… Little me loved that show – Golly was my favorite!

I had so many Enid Blyton books which I devoured over and over again.

I miss the pace and sweet innocence of that time when children were allowed to just get lost in ‘Walking round the garden, like a teddy bear.  One step, two step, jumping in the air!’  

Thanks Louise, for all the memories today.

 

@FrancesMForde  #Bill&BenFlowerPotMen  #AndyPandy  #Noddy&BigEars  #Children’sPrograms

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Race Day.

My daughter Jessica McCallum was commissioned to design and make a one-off head piece for her friend Judith in Melbourne – which arrived just in time!

Judith (aka The Adventures of a Voucher Vixen) agreed to the use her photos showing how happy she was with her hat – and just how gorgeous she and the dashing Alister looked!

For all readers who aren’t Australian, yesterday was the day of the great race – the Melbourne Cup.

It’s a day when if they can’t get the day off work, many take a ‘sickie’.  Businesses organize lunches with Sweepstakes, Best Hat or Outfits and a bit of a ‘flutter’ at the TAB, champagne flows with nibbles and no work.  So I don’t understand why it isn’t a Public Holiday!

As is our usual habit, each year, my sister-in-law organised a table at a local Tavern for lunch and a bit of a flutter – the only time I ever gamble.  We enjoyed free champagne, live music, sweepstakes and a delicious lunch all wearing the appropriate head-wear, while judging everyone else’s.

Jessica’s 40’s style original.

My daughter wore one of her own designs and our friend Ann made her own version with mementos and gift ribbons.  The lady from the next table was so impressed she urged Ann to stand up and be judged for the ‘Best Hat’ competition.

Definitely the loudest table, No 32 behind us, kept booing winners and shouting their’s was the best hat etc started to upset the judge.  He sarcastically offered a prize for the best personality (if they’d just shut up and let him get on) but it didn’t deter them!

Ann’s ‘gift’ hat.

The BEST HAT winners were two ladies wearing their primary school daughter’s efforts; both wide sweeping paper brims with color splashed all over and a guy with a ridiculous crocheted bean-ey with plaits in his football team colours.  The competition obviously judged on the most novel…  AND they gave No 32 a bottle of booze anyway!

It was lovely to see so many ladies dressed up to the nines, gorgeous frocks and hats and even men in suits.  Though I have to say I was a little disappointed that some men came too casually dressed for their partners.

The race was exciting and my niece Ashleigh, newly arrived from Canada that morning, won 1st prize in the sweepstakes with the winner “Protectionist”.

Unfortunately, while checking out my photos later, I learned two horses died after the race.  The favorite led most of the way until he hit trouble toward the end of the race. finishing well behind the others.  He collapsed and died when taken back to his stall.  The other horse was spooked by an excited spectator and crashed into a barrier, breaking a leg and had to be euthanaised.  So sad.

Suddenly, the whole idea of horse racing took on dark and malevolent overtones.   Animal Rights people have now made me rethink the day…

 

#FrancesMacaulayForde  #ARTIST:JessicaMcCallum  #JessicaMcCallum  #2014MelbourneCup  #AdventuresOfAVoucherVixen  #Horseracing  #Fascinators  #RaceDayHats  #Fashion

 

 

 

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Smooth Skin

In Ireland with my newly returned love we lived in Midleton, a little village 25 km from Cork City.

He enjoyed showing me around his home of only a few years – but the new home of his heart.

Chatting about the ‘mysteries’ of writing poetry, we’d driven into Robinson’s Tyres yard, littered with used product.

I’d just finished saying I never suffered from writers block and could do a poem about anything.  He pointed and challenged me to write about ‘Those’.

So while he organised for a change of Tyre, I wrote about them:

 

Smooth Skin

 

Off Old Cork road, turning into Midleton

stacks of life-saving re-treads have Buckley’s

chance of reliving their youth. Discarded tyres

 

lay stop-piled high; like Auschwitz bodies

deflated, black, aged-old wheel-rings have

reached the end and their final journey.

 

Unlined rubber circles, low profile cushions

await disposal; melting erasure – incineration.

Their job is complete – no longer needed.

 

The largest lay prepared, neatly size-stacked,

ready and resigned, proudly age un-marked

claiming their fair share of the dumping ground.

 

Smaller circles know their place, are thrown

haphazardly because they’ve lost their grip;

swallowed by take-over tyrants, larger than they are.

 

Tractor workhorses are content to rest, miles-tired,

worn out, knowing they don’t count because the speedy

don’t care – don’t notice how many lines are missing.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2003

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Holding…

Mytwosentences 72.

My newest blog follower Edward Roads posts 2 sentences with a photo – which I find both  innovative and inspiring.   His latest has reminded me of a poem which I thought I’d share, both are about the unspoken:

 

Priority Seating

 

Chivalry’s not dead.

Young man offers an older

person his seat, but

not the young lady. He stands

silently, matching her sway.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2003

Published  in “Hidden Capacity ~ a poet’s journey”, Ireland 2003 &  “Rail Tales” Perth, 2013, AVAILABLE from AMAZON.

#FrancesMacaulayForde  #PrioritySeating  #Poem  #RailTales  #HiddenCapacity  #WAWriter

 

 

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Grill’d…

 

Sister-in-laws and I met for a coffee and burger at Lakeside in Joondalup a while ago – I wrote this on the napkin.

 

Grill’d

 

Life moves at such a pace

But we don’t.

 

We have to order our hamburger

without the bun.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde  © 2013

 

 

#FrancesMacaulayForde  #HealthyBurgers  #Poem

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