1227 - In the Bush

The highway driving.
It's quick, non-stop and direct
But you see nothing.

◊

Dim Sims in the park.
I sat there and ate all three;
The ducks weren't happy.

◊

Visiting the bush,
Herding sheep on country roads,
Not my normal thing.

◊

Discussing ideas
And asking probing questions.
The joy of friendship.

◊

The country salad,
Australian Woman's Weekly,
Circa '65.

◊

The paddocks are dry.
Carting hay to feed the sheep.
Summer is not done.

◊

A birthday party
Many people I don't know—
Friends by the night's end.

◊

It's good to be home.
It's a comfortable place,
The familiar.
    .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1226 - Backlog

I have a back-log.  

Writing's quicker than posting.  

My apologies.

◊

Mindfulness & beer;
Sitting in the gazebo.
Thunder & lightning.

◊

The gods are angry.
Or their tummy's rumbling.
Maybe the same thing.

◊

Thunder is just fine.
It's very theatrical.
Some rain would be good.

◊

Quite a grey morning.
How much is smoke, I wonder.
Does anyone care?

◊

Just twenty minutes
And the NBN's installed.
What was all the fuss?
    .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1225 - But Not Guaranteed

Leisurely breakfast
Planning a relaxing day—
Rain is predicted.
    .---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1224 - Idle Thoughts VIII

The meal of summer:
Fresh pasta with pesto sauce.
And a glass of wine.

◊

Excuse me, Boss man,
Why do you not talk to me?
I don’t bite, you know!
    .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1223 - Be careful what you wish for.

Thank God it’s Friday!
One day closer to Monday

...and closer to death.

◊

Enjoy what you have.
There is only the present.
Make the most of it.
    .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1222 - I follow

Social media.
People come and people go,
It's not personal.
    .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1221 - Lunch

A lunch with a son,
It’s a quarterly catch-up:
Steak, salad and chips.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1220 - Thoughts in the Car

A smokey city—
Climate denialists' gift
To the asthmatics.

◊

A pedestrian:
Clearly not wearing a bra.
Very generous.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1219 - Idle Thoughts VII

It's hot and sticky
And just half way though summer—
Well, one lives in hope.

◊

The polls are not good,
But have no fear for next time—
Greed will win again.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1218 - Sunday Ponderings

Ignorance is bliss?
Are you kidding me?
Why aren't you smiling?

◊

Confabulation—
The rewriting of stories
To fit the facts.

◊

What am I to do?
Existential confusion—
To fly or to fight?
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1217 - Idle Thoughts VI

Yes, you are pretty.
You may be beautiful too
But I don't know you yet.

◊

Seventy Seven Years.
You have earned your retirement
And a good farewell
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1216 - Meanwhile, back at the office...

Rude and small minded.
He is probably lonely­
But that is no excuse.

◊

"You've had a haircut!
And you hair is much shorter!"
Yes, that's what happens.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1215 - Clean Slate

It's another day,
Yesterday is no longer.
Tabula rasa.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1214 - Idle Thoughts V

Idle Thoughts V

The world’s gone crazy.
There are loonies everywhere.
What does it all mean?

◊

Party pies and sauce,
Celebratory lunches.
Living the good life.

◊

That little word "But..."
Everything prior is lost.
The great negator.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1213 - Idle Thoughts IV

Idle Thoughts IV

“Good Morning Young Man!”
Fifteen years younger than me.
Lacks maturity.

◊

Speaking in Chinese;
I wonder what they are saying?
It’s all Greek to me.

◊

Bloody computer!
Blue doughnut of impatience
Is laughing at me.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1212 - I Don't Follow

I Don't Follow.

An "influencer"—
Photographing her dinner.
It's a strange world.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Last night, sat beside an Instagraming lady, 

fed to encourage her flock to follow her example.

1211 - Deceptive Traits

Unmelted Butter

She's little Miss Prim!
But don't let that mislead you—
There's a scamp inside.

◊

Heuristics

Selective experts—
They can help support your case,
Except climate change.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1210 - Idle Thoughts III

Count to Ten

It’s a new decade!
Not everyone agrees‑
But they never do.

◊

Persian Princess

It’s all self, self, self.
Everything is a drama,
It cannot end well.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1209 - 2020

Any Day Will Do

Arbitrary bell
Tolls for the incoming year —
Tabula rasa.

◊

China Doll
A porcelain doll —
But, shades of Mary Shelley,
There's a spark of life.
     .
---
© 2020 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1208 - Idle Thoughts II

Dead to the World

The ambulance came.
People.  Noise.  Anxiety.
Someone slept through it.

◊

Year's End.

The year has ended—
The arbitrary passing of time,
Marked by a rocket.
     .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1207 - Not Fahrenheit

Not Fahrenheit.

Forty four degrees—
The promised temperature.
I hope that is all.
     .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1206 Idle thoughts I

A Dog's View

Live life like a dog —
Everything is worth a sniff,
Often a couple.

◊

Gratitude
Practice gratitude;
Even for things unpleasant—
They could have been worse.
     .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1205 - Alone

Alone

The noise of the sea is a constant,

The wind just comes and goes;

The spray comes off the wave tops,

The sand runs through the toes.

Alone,

A chance to think

And hone,

To stop the headlong

Forward pace;

To recognise

That life is not a sprint,

And really not a race.

    .

---

© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery

---

1204 - The One-Walled Cage

The One-Walled Cage

Ceaselessly, you prowl side to side,
Restrained in your comfy coup;
Lamenting the woes of yesteryear
While reveling in them, too.

Inside
Is joined to outside.

It's clear this truth, as such, appalls.
But there will come a time when you must decide
To step around the walls.
    .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1203 - Crews Control

Crews Control

At a distance it is a lovely blue,
A vessel displaying a certain grace
It glides serenely through time and space,
Indifferent to the actions of the crew.

Like children fighting for the best position
Of cabin, top bunk or at the Captain's table;
Greedy, ignorant and quite unstable,

They are suicidal acts of self-coition.

Arrogantly, the crew have not yet assessed
The ship's unconcern with their petty fights,
As it powers onwards through the nights —
Will it become the next Mary Celeste?

A hundred tableaus in a hundred rooms
Meanwhile, not far up ahead, disaster looms.
    .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1202 - It's for Happy Birthday, Right?

It's for Happy Birthday, Right?

It's your birthday.
In honour - a special gift,
Monogrammed: HB.
    .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1201 - Fragmented

Fragmented

There is much to do
But I cannot do it all.
For time is so short.
    .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1200 - Stressful

 Stressful 

A colleague told me she felt 'stressful'.

I had to agree.

A lady who presented with a dress-full

Declared that she was feeling quite 'stressful'.

I think she meant 'stressed'

But, by the way she was dressed,

The first was most certainly successful.

   .

---

© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery

---

1199 - Past Lessens

Past Lessens
An anniversary.

What better than a rondeau?

But don’t forget that life goes on,
Events should end once they have gone,
Yet the human mind is a queer machine,
Sometimes kind but often mean,
It drags things back from the beyond
To make you relive and dwell upon
The unpleasant things you’ve undergone.
It’s time to wipe the blackboard clean,
But don’t forget.

And this is the strange phenomenon,
To learn our lessons, pro and con,
But not fall into that dark ravine,
To learn the lessons but shun the spleen.
To not forgive would be quite wrong.
But don’t forget.
   .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1198 - Lilliput II

Lilliput II

Why am I amongst aliens?
Who are these people?
Why are their values so foreign?
They lead me to weep 'til the dawn
(Sleep, tragically forelorn)
Wherein I lament the lost dreams
As a new dark ages begins,
Fear trumps vision, it seems.
   .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1197 - Sunny Morning

Sunny Morning

Breaking old habits.

Have you ever woken and found
That what had hung over you,
That what had clung onto you,
Had disappeared in the night?
You’ll like it if you do.

It’s not so much delight,
It’s more a sort of relief,
An absence of the angst and grief
That darkened life around—
Missed, 

The way you don’t miss a thief.
   .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1196 - I Call Bullshit

I call Bullshit

It seems that’s bull, as in bully.

The phrase is meant to point out lies
That others feed to us,
Things they’d prefer we didn’t spot,
Rather than to discuss
The facts, where it seems they're not exact.

It’s not a weaponised way to hit
Every comment, all replies—
So, now, I am calling bullshit.
   .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1195 - The Last Frontier

The Last Frontier

The facts

Will never change

A mind,

Those numbers,

Graphs and words—

They just bounce right off

The boney wall,

Ignored, or worse,

Misheard.

So how

Can we

Be allowed

To call,

To convey

Our deepest fear

For the future of our kind,

To get past

The guarded ear?

   .

---

© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery

---

1194 - Probably Not

Probably not.

Haiku Horizons: Sorry.

Words cut to the bone—
Even more than actions do.
Would a 'sorry' help?

Just another word;
So weak in every sense.
It cannot repair.
   .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1193 - Predator

Predator
On receiving medical news.

Imagine a river,
Wide, inviting, shimmering
Calm on a quiet, balmy morning.

Every day, relaxed,
You strip off your cares,
Your dusty, soiled garments
of yesterday
and slip gratefully
Into the fresh waters
Of a new day.

Imagine this,
This daily ritual.
Refresh and renew.
The river of life.

One day, a local asks
"Did you know
There is a crocodile
In the river?"

Nothing has changed.
But everything has.
   .
---
© 2019 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Peace.