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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Australians All

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Warning: the following post is heartfelt, and a bit political, and very different from my usual poetry posts.

It’s Poetry Friday, and this week the thing that has been on my mind is the Syrian Refugee crisis. There are 11 million (yes ELEVEN MILLION) displaced Syrians, either displaced within their former country, or having fled. And, governments and individuals from  around the world, spurred to action at last, have been opening their hearts and their borders to help these people, many of them children.

Australia’s government was  slow to act, though has finally agreed to take in 12,000 refugees. This is wonderful news, though it should be said that 12,000 out of 11 Million is just a tiny drop. And it doesn’t change the fact that Australia also has many other legitimate refugees (from Syria and other countries) in detention centres both offshore and within Australia, treated like criminals for seeking help.

Anyway, I wanted to respond to my strong feelings about this subject  but every time I tried to write, nothing came out. The only words that came to my mind are the words of our national anthem, which I have been unable to sing proudly since we started mistreating refugees on Manus on Nauru. The anthem speaks of welcoming “those who’ve come across the seas”, yet our Prime Minister talks, quite proudly of ‘stopping the boats’ and that those who have come that way will never have homes in Australia. And our so-called Opposition supports this stance.

So, for today’s Poetry Friday I give you the words of our National Anthem. A poem which once stirred me to feel proud and hopeful. May we be able to sing it, not just for the 12, 000 who we are about to welcome, but for the thousands who are currently being held in detention.

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history’s page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.
Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We’ll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who’ve come across the seas
We’ve boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Because my post is political, I have not added to to this week’s Poetry Friday roundup. But please, if you have time, head over to the roundup which is today hosted today by Robyn at The Deckle Edge.

Poetry Friday: Spring Is Here

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It’s Poetry Friday and, here in Australia at least, it is Spring! Not being a winter person, I have been looking forward to Spring for weeks – months even.

So, of course, today I want to share a poem about Spring. A few weeks back Heidi from My Juicy Little Universe hosted Poetry Friday, and shared a poem mourning the ending of summer. You can read her poem here.  I loved the form of her poem so much that I wanted to experiment with it for myself. I  set myself an extra challenge of using one rhyme sound for each stanza, just to see if I could. Here is my effort:

Spring is Here!

Birds are tweeting. Spring is here

Lambs are bleating. Spring is here

Cold is fleeting. Spring is here.

Sun is greeting. Spring is here.

Willie wagtail

No more shivering

No more dithering

No more quivering

Spring is here!

 

Leaves are greening. Spring is here.

Birds are preening. Spring is here.

Folks are cleaning. Spring is here.

Garden tools leaning. Spring is here

 

No more complaining

No cold raining

Or chill blaining

Spring is here!

 

Magpies singing. Spring is here.

Kids are swinging. Spring is here

Spring is springing! Spring is here.

Yes spring

spring

spring

is finally here!

(Copyright Sally Murphy 2015)

Thanks so much to Heidi for the inspiration.

Poetry Friday today is hosted by Teacher Dance. Head over there for a round up of all the Poetry Friday goodness.

Poetry Friday: Another Poetry Haiku

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It’s Poetry Friday. I’m in the midst of one of my busiest couple of weeks ever – Book Week, a burst of promotion for Fly-In Fly-Out Dad, a move of house, family illness, a busy period with my studies, a writing deadline… Anyway, rather than let this prevent from participating in Poetry Friday, for the second week in a row, I’m sharing a quick post in the form of a haiku poem.

I took this photo on the Abrolhos Islands last year. I’m fairly sure this plant was a weed, but it reminded me of tiny little trees from a Dr Seuss book. Thus, my poem.

 

Seuss Plants

 

Poetry Friday this week is hosted by the amazing Sylvia at Poetry for Children. You’ll find the round up there.

Poetry Friday And Bookshops

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Today is Poetry Friday, and tomorrow is National Bookshop Day and these two things celebrate two of my very favourite things.

This week I had a day in the city, and I took a couple of hours to check out four bookshops. On a personal note I was delighted that three of them had Fly-In Fly-Out Dad, displayed face out (and multiple copies, too).

At Kaleido Books, Perth Train Station

At Kaleido Books, Perth Train Station

 

The fourth didn’t, but had two of my other bookbabies, so that was wonderful, too.

At the State Library Bookshop. they had Roses are Blue, too.

At the State Library Bookshop. they had Roses are Blue, too.

Anyway, I came home and I drafted this poem as a celebration of  bookstores, and of their lovely staff.

A Note on Shopping

At Boffins Bookstore on William Street, Perth.

At Boffins Bookstore on William Street, Perth.

In supermarkets

people hurry

looking at lists

racing up and down aisles

or blocking them

to chat

‘Dreadful news.’

‘Had her baby’

‘Did you hear?’

 

In hardware stores

there are dusty aisles

bored looking

people who are NOT the ones

buying tools

and the staff never look

as happy

as they do

on those advertisements.

 

In bookshops though

there is

that new book smell

of unearthed treasures

awed hush

of discovery

excited squeals

and gasps

(not just

In the kids’ section)

and staff

who are happy

to come to work.

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy, 2015)

If you are a bookseller, have a wonderful Bookshop Day tomorrow. Thank you for making the world a better place.  And if you are a reader, why not take the time to visit your local bookshop.

And today, enjoy Poetry Friday. The roundup this week is at The Opposite of Indifference.

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Poetry Friday: Teachers

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It’s Poetry Friday and this week I have been thinking about teachers, partly because I am always asked about which parts of my own life appear in my books, and also partly because I saw this amazing tribute to a teacher online, which made me weep.


Amazing, huh?

Anyway, as a result of this introspection, I’ve started blogging about the teacher characters in my various books – yesterday I posted about Stanley and Elizabeth in 1915, and over the next few weeks I am going to post about several of my other teacher characters. So, today I went looking for poems about teachers.

In Pearl Verses the World, Pearl has a bit of an up and down relationship with her teacher, Miss Bruff. She even writes a poem about her:

A teacher known as BruffPearl Verses the World

Was very, very gruff.

She preached and she taught

Much more than she ought

Till the class had had more than enough.

Poor Miss Bruff! The good news is, by the end of the book, Pearl has a new understanding of Miss Bruff (who, incidentally, I’ll be blogging more about on Sunday).

One of my favourite poems about teachers is Taylor Mali’s poem, which you may have come across before. It begins:

What Teachers Make
by Taylor Mali

He says the problem with teachers is
What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life
was to become a teacher?

You can read the whole poem on Mali’s website here or, you can see his performance here:

Teachers do make a difference. Thanks Taylor Mali – and thanks Mr Tamatea who was such an amazing teacher that 1700 students turned out to honour him. And thanks to the teachers who populate so many of my stories and do their best to guide my young characters, to cheer them on and to just teach them.

Have a great Poetry Friday. The roundup this week is at Keri Recommends.

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