Thoughts on Driving deaths

I've heard of far too many deaths from speeding. It's not only young people who die this way, but an early road death seems more tragic.
A life not yet lived, cut off on a lonely road...

Thinking about it can't change a thing, but bringing it to people's attention may have some affect, I don't know. I only know that every young person who dies on the road is a tragedy.

Who pays the bill?

A life is lost

is wisdom gained?

Those children speed past still.

My thoughts slow down

my hands stretch out,

they’re out of reach until

they realise we had a point

us bleating older ones -

speed certainly can kill

with death a sorry end.

A life has ended now,

to stop it takes the will

to force a change -

the mindset’s wrong

and those deaths all leave a bill

a charge society pays

medical, laws, funerals

tragically run of the mill.

Some thoughts on suicide

I've recently completed the study part of my Community Services Work certificate IV. Next comes 140 hours of work placement. I enjoyed doing the classroom part of my study, but didn't enjoy working by myself, just me, my computer and the assignment.

My two final assignments, which I completed in the same week were about firstly domestic violence and secondly suicide. I have to say it felt like a very bleak week indeed. I got through the work though, submitted the assignments and I'm proud and pleased to say I received a pass for each, together with supportive comments.

Thinking about that tonight  prompted thoughts about suicide, and I can honestly say I don't think I would consider that way. I wrote a poem about it, and I'd like to share that poem with you.

THE BILL

if I were to fail to find

a reason to wake

if I were to see only

dark clouds looming

and not the rainbow

then suicide may become

an option

but every day brings

something new

whether a tiny thing

or something large -

with things teetering

on my horizon -

I continue on

if you fail to see

or can’t believe

better things may come

if no-one’s there

to care that you exist

then it’s up to you

to be the one who cares

each of us is important

the world is incomplete

when we leave

if our life has ended

before its time

nature has rules, and we

must heed them

Primary School students eat their veggies!

The 'Vegetable Victory' project continues. At Balaklava Primary school yesterday it was time for the students to look at some vegetables, think about how they look, feel and taste.

Their teacher brought a big collection of vegetables to their classroom for the session. There were leeks, a beetroot, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, capsicum, chilli peppers and more. It was a lovely colourful display, and the students were interested in having a look at it all.

I was impressed with the level of interest from the students. I suppose having me in the class is fun because I'm someone they only see once a week, and we talk about different things. The students seem to be enjoying thinking about vegetables and poetry!

Their teacher wrote an acrostic poem about potatoes for the lesson and read that, explaining how to write one. I read my acrostic poem about onions and then it was time for the students to finally get stuck into actually writing a poem.

They had another look at the vegetables on display, then went back to their desks to craft their own acrostic vegetable poems. The teacher and I walked around the class, looking at how the students were going and offering advice. Some of the students struggled a bit, but overall, the standard of poetry written was good.

Once students had written at least one acrostic poem, it was time to try a haiku. These were simply three lined poems with syllable counts of 5,7,5 for the lines, with no worrying about the many details of what makes a good haiku - that would need more time than we had, and it wasn't needed for our purposes. There were fewer of these poems written, but they'll add interest.

Some of the poetic offerings were more than just good, they were excellent. The teacher collected all of the books from the students for checking and spelling correction. Next week the students will type up their poems and cut out pictures of vegetables to put together a booklet of vegetable poems.

This booklet will go to the Balaklava Community Library, and the students will all be published poets!

We all had a bit of Zucchini slice made by the other Community Foodie, and several students asked for the recipe, which I'd already given to their teacher. A very successful Vegetable/Poetry lesson!

Vegetable Victory Update

The Poetry and Vegetables at Balaklava Primary School are on again this afternoon. Last week I read a poem about Carrots(thank you John Malone!), people smiled and laughed at the words, and the carrot sticks I took along for munching on were munched on.

I think if I'd taken twice as many carrot sticks, they would have all disappeared. I'm taking something different today, and next week and the week after. It was going to be zucchini slice today, but that plan wasn't as planned as I thought it was, so I had to zip into plan B, which I'm sure will be even more welcome than the carrot sticks were.

Last week the students gave us their two favourite vegetables, with at least one surprising result. One student said brussels sprouts were her favourite vegetable. Well, I was surprised, but since then, other people have spoken out in favour of this healthy but less than lovely vegetable. Less than lovely in my opinion, that is. We're all different, so it's not surprising we have different opinions. In fact it's a good thing. If we all loved the same vegetable more than any other, there might be problems with us all being able to get enough of it!

The poem I read today will be a rhyming one, plus I might read several short poetic forms. Arcrostic poetry will certainly be mentioned. There will be talk of metaphor and simile, with imagery mentioned perhaps. I'm looking forward to it again.

That's a secret to a good life - look forward to good things, enjoy them as they happen and remember them joyfully!

Writing an Ode

Well, a truer title would be 'Not Writing an Ode'. A friend of mine told me on Facebook I should write an ode about my new walker, which I had been writing great things about.

I value this friend's opinion on poetic things, so I went away to pen this ode to my walker. I started out by brainstorming and writing down words, phrases and so on, then began penning my ode. I soon realised I needed to read up about odes, famous ones, different types etc.

I got back to 'Ode to my Walker' wrote a few lines then stopped. I just didn't feel connected enough to the idea I think. But having said that, I've just had the thought that I should revisit what I've written and perhaps take my walker out for another walk to get some more ideas to write about.

Hmm, this blog post was going to be all about failing in my writing and ode mission. Poetry is funny like that - you start out somewhere and your head takes you to places you may not have known existed.

Goodbye - I have an ode to write!