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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Reflections

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I am in the last two weeks of my Hanoi adventure. Some days it feels like I’ve just arrived; others like I’ve been here forever. Since I last posted I have travelled further afield, seeing  a little more of  Vietnam including glorious Sa Pa,  and three trips to different parts of Ninh Binh Province. I have had a few scary moments and some moments of sheer joy. Luckily more joy than scare, but it’s the blend that keeps life interesting.  Anyway, I have tried to capture some of this in poetry, so rather than rabbiting on, here is what I’ve come up with – firstly on the scary bits:

Moments of fear:     

The only photo I have of the scary cave was too busy keeping my head down – this is a snap just as we exited. the ceiling was slightly higher here.

Crossing a Hanoi road;

Too-fast bus swinging around blind corners

On a narrow mountain road;

Scam taxi driver

Late at night;

Power outage

In a building

Needing electricity to exit;

A boat ride

Through a flooded cave

Where the roof brushes the back of bent head.

 

After each I laugh and say

I’ll write about it.

 

(Sally Murphy, 2018)

 

Secondly, on the  blissful stuff:

What Am I Of?

Beautiful Sa Pa.

I am of the sea.

I like to walk

And breathe the fresh fresh air

Feel the sand beneath my feet

Hear the waves lap on the shore

And feel close to creation.

 

But in the mountains

Of a foreign land

I feel my heart swell

And suddenly

 

I am of the mountain.

I like to walk

And breathe the fresh fresh air

Feel the mud beneath my boots

Hear the waves of rustling green foliage

And feel close to creation

 

And I know

That I am of nature.

(Sally Murphy 2018)

 

And thirdly, because these hands, framed snapped in a  second, deserve a few lines. Thanks to my new Canadian friend, Dave, who these hands belong to.

This time in two weeks I will be on a plane making my way home. I know I will be sad to end this amazing experience – but, of course, can’t wait to get home to my amazing family.

 

Today’s Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty.

 


PS. This post, and my visit to Hanoi, are made possible by the amazing Asialink Arts Program, and with the funding support of the the Western Australian Government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

Poetry Friday: Crossing Roads

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It’s kind of ironic that I have come to Hanoi to write, and yet struggle to find time to write a regular blog post.  But rest assured, although I have been quiet here, words have been written, and ideas are percolating, and adventures which will, one way or another, make their way into my future writings, are being had.   Many of those adventures seem to involve traffic, a topic which seems to keep coming up in my writing and in my conversations.

Yesterday, talking with some lovely new friends about overcoming fears and taking risks, I found myself using an analogy, comparing the doubt we have about taking risks to  the moments before crossing a busy Hanoi road. The moments when we wonder if the traffic will ever clear enough, and if we should risk it or just go back where we came from. And I talked about how, once you do take that first step, a pathway kind of appears – not a straight line but an awareness of the gaps. And how good it feels to get to the other side. As I said this, my friends nodded in agreement, and I knew I had to try to put all that into a poem.  Before I show you what I came up with, here is a glimpse of the kind of road I mean. This footage was taken just after I had crossed both of the roads at a busy intersection  (to end up diagonal from my starting point). It is actually an intersection with traffic lights and even walk signals  but  red lights and little green men do NOT mean the same thing here as they do elsewhere. And the most dangerous part is often on the pavement, because the motorbikes leave the road, cut the corner on the footpath, then duck back onto the road.  You might get some sense of what I mean in the video.

The best part is – this is not the busiest road I have crossed.

Anyway, here’s my attempt to craft my analogy into a poem.

Crossings

 

Crossing a Hanoi road

is just a metaphor for life.

You stand poised on the edge

and you see

all the danger

the risks

the hazards

and you wonder if it’s safer

to just stay where you are.

But then you remember your goal

and you know

you can only do it

by leaving your safe spot.

So you assess the risks

watch for patterns

and gaps

and opportunities

and finally

take that first step.

There is no straight line.

There are noises

and smells

and moments of sheer terror

and you have to adjust your course

as you go

but when you get there

you smile

glad to be alive.

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy, 2018)

Today’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Brenda at Friendly Fairytales. Head over there to see links to loads of other poetry goodness.  Have a good week – and watch out for motorbikes!


PS. This post, and my visit to Hanoi, are made possible by the amazing Asialink Arts Program, and with the funding support of the the Western Australian Government through the  Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

Poetry Friday: Poetic Motorbikes

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One thing I wonder at every day here in Hanoi is the way motorbikes are used – as family vehicles (amazing how many people can ride on one bike!), as shops, as taxis, even – to my amazement – as beds. I have seen many riders stretched out on the back of their parked bike fast asleep.  But the use that amazes me the most is for transportation of stuff. I wish I had started photographing these sooner – photos I didn’t take included a whole single bed innerspring mattress being carried on the seat of the  motorbike and a piano being carried in a tiny trailer behind a motorbike.  I was also delighted to see a boy sitting on the back of the bike driven my his mother. He was not holding on – because he was too busy reading a book!

Anyway, I have started collecting photos of some of what I see being transported, which has made me ponder even more the very exact art of  loading,  and securing that load. And, of course, wondering how often loads come loose or the whole bike topples. I did pass one bike on its side outside a shop, with the shop staff unconcernedly carrying the various scattered boxes into the shop.

 

As I thought about how to put all this into a poem, it occurred to me that the art of loading a motorbike is very like the art of writing a poem. So here’s what I came up with.

Poetic Motorbikes

Loading a Hanoi motorbike

Is much like

Writing a poem.

First you collect

All that you want to include

Then you carefully

Add and layer

Layer and add

Shift things round

Balancing

Balancing

Balancing

Then, when you are done

You take off

Hoping

It reaches

Its destination.

Sometimes it works

And sometimes

You have

gone

too

far.

(Poem Copyright Sally Murphy 2018)

That’s it from me for this Poetry Friday – but don’t forget you can see what other poetry lovers all around the world have posted today by visiting the Poetry Friday Roundup, hosted today by the wonderful Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference.
PS. This post, and my visit to Hanoi, are made possible by the amazing Asialink Arts Program, and with the funding support of the the Western Australian Government through the  Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

Poetry Friday: Never Alone

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This week I have been, understandably, a little homesick. Not dreadfully so, but this is the longest I have been without seeing at least one member of my family EVER. And of course I am in a country where I am surrounded by people, but very few of them speak my language, and this is a very new experience for me.  It’s why I came here: because I think it is important to step outside my comfort zone and try new things, and I also think it is good to feel what it likes to be in a minority.

So, my thoughts have turned to commonalities. Because in amongst the strangeness of a foreign country there are many moments that remind me of the universality of human emotions, and the ability to communicate. An exchange with a taxi driver who attempted a little English, with me attempting a little Vietnamese back, lead to us both giggling at our own efforts. A child running with a balloon and squealing made me stop and smile, and the mother following behind met my eye and nodded. A man  on a motorbike was clipped by a bus but luckily was not hurt – but my driver and I both exclaimed.

I tried to capture these thoughts in a poem:

Different but the Same

In a bustling

Busy city

It is easy to feel alone.

But in that busy bustling city

A smile

A giggle

A shared moment

Of shock or horror

Reminds me

That everyone

Is human.

(Sally Murphy, 2018)

And then, after I’d drafted this, three things happened.  First, I decided to go to a meet up of  women, that I heard about through Facebook.But on the way, I got a little lost and, on the verge of giving up and going home, was helped on my way by a stranger, who went out of his way to ensure I got where I was going. Secondly, on my way home from this wonderfully warm morning of chat, I was stopped by a stranger who was lost and, it turned out, I was able to help him (a fellow Aussie!) get his bearings. Thirdly, the discussion in between times lead to us talking about commonalities, and, as a follow up, to sharing of this video from Maya Angelou, all about humanity!

Oh Maya – what a brilliant human being !

Not much else I can say really except have a wonderful Friday.
Poetry Friday this week is hosted by Erin a The Water’s Edge.

PS. This post, and my visit to Hanoi, are made possible by the amazing Asialink Arts Program, and with the funding support of the the Western Australian Government through the  Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

Poetry Friday: Photo Bomb

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It’s Poetry Friday and this week Christie has issued a challenge for Poetry Friday: she has asked Poetry Fridayers to share a bird poem.

I instantly knew just what I wanted to write about. I had a perfect photo of a bird, which I have shared here on my blog previously. Except it was never supposed to be a picture of a bird. It was supposed to be a picture of a lighthouse. But, in a moment of perfection I could never have planned, just as I snapped the photo, a seagull ducked (seagulled?) in front of my camera and ‘click’ I took the shot – and I had a photo which will always be one of my favourites.

With all that in mind, knowing what to write about to go with the photo was very easy. I give you:  Photo Bomb.

 

Thanks to Christie for hosting this week’s roundup at Wondering and Wondering. Head there now to see lots more poetry, birdy goodness.

 

 

Poetry Friday: Imperfect Poems

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I have to admit I make lots of mistakes. Little mistakes, like calling one of my children the wrong name (okay, that could be a big mistake, but in my defence there are SIX of them, and at least I rarely call one of them the dog’s name. Rarely.) and big mistakes like saying something truly horrible to or about someone I love. And when I make those mistakes I feel bad. The good news is that I have also learnt, or at least am constantly learning, that most mistakes can be either fixed or at least forgiven. Get a a name wrong? Correct the mistake and say sorry. Offend someone? Say sorry, but also know that sometimes it takes more than just words to actually show you are sorry and that the person may need time to forgive.

So where is all this leading? To poetry  of course (because today is Poetry Friday!).  See, I made a bit of a mistake recently. When I got home from my wonderful trip to Europe there, amongst the pile of mail waiting for me, was a copy of a wonderful anthology in which one of my poems was included. And I was really happy about that and browsed the whole anthology over the next week or so.

But my mistake was, in the business of my return, I forgot to post about that wonderful anthology here on my website, to celebrate it’s release, and let the world know about it.  Which is a bit bad, but also ironic, because, as it happens, the anthology’s theme is, you guessed it, mistakes.

So, to rectify my mistake, today I am pleased to announce (drum roll please ba da bada bada bada badaaaaa), the release of IMPERFECT: poems about mistakes, edited by the amazing Tabatha Yeatts, and with poems from many fellow Poetry Friday-ers as well as a bunch of other mistake-makers/poets.

Look at the amazing cover:

If you are very clever,  you will notice the vase is cracked. And, if you are even cleverer you might know about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold or other precious metals, making a mistake a work of art. And this book is a work of art, made from poems which represent mistakes of all kinds and how to fix them. Some poems actually present solutions to the mistakes, and others, I believe, fix them by making us think about and learn from them.

I was delighted to see poems from many of my Poetry Friday friends, and poems that made me laugh out loud as well as ones that made me want to cry. The message of the book is that mistakes are everywhere and every one of us makes mistakes.

To give you a taste of the book, I would like to share my poem, which you will find on page 61:

Time Bomb

There’s a time bomb

in our letterbox

tick tick ticking

insidiously ticking.

No one can hear it but me:

tick tick ticking

counting down the time

till Mom checks the mail.

When she opens it

she will explode.

Letter from school.

 

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy 2018)

 

For my Australian readers, yes I know we spell it Mum not Mom, but  I haven’t made yet another mistake. The book is, at present, not available in Australia. The good news is, it can be ordered online here, and, if you want to read more about the anthology, and the poets and poems featured, head over to the special Mistakes Blog.

I started this post talking about making and rectifying mistakes, and I hope I have rectified mine by FINALLY sharing news of this amazing book. And, of course, because I always look for the silver lining, I guess it’s nice to be spreading out the love for,  and celebration of, a new book.

Congratulations to Tabatha for gathering, editing such a wonderful collection of poetry for young people, and thanks for letting me be part of the fun.

Today’s Poetry Friday roundup is being hosted by Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone. Head over there for lots more poetry goodness. And make sure you read Molly’s amazing poem, which I swear was written about me 🙂