A drop of water
In the sea.
A grain of sand
In the desert.
A needle in the haystack?
Not nearly sharp enough.
I think, therefore I am.
And yet
To many, I am not.
Does it matter?
I may be invisible
But at least I can see.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Monday, 24 November 2008
a poem
This is a poem I wrote when I was about eleven, with a friend at One Day School - a school I went to one day each week that was for gifted and talented children.
As you can tell, I had a cheese fetish.
What a strange child I was.
Cheese
Bread's ever-faithful friend.
Never named,
As staple food or wholesome snack
But always there,
In slices or blocks or cubes.
But
What if cheese
Did away with mild reputation,
Displeased with second place.
No longer would he sit upon
Ciabata, baguette, or plain white loaf.
Demanded he, that noble cheese,
His own place on the plate.
How would such news be taken,
By cheese's glutenous chum?
Abandoned by the only one,
With the creamy capability,
To turn his blandness to pure bliss?
Deserted by a culinary world.
Yellow, now, is in vogue -
So different from bread's bland
White and grey and brown.
Cheese, now in the spotlight,
Recognized as staple food, as wholesome snack,
His creamy capabilities,
Looked upon with awe,
As he sits, content,
On his own place on the plate.
As you can tell, I had a cheese fetish.
What a strange child I was.
Cheese
Bread's ever-faithful friend.
Never named,
As staple food or wholesome snack
But always there,
In slices or blocks or cubes.
But
What if cheese
Did away with mild reputation,
Displeased with second place.
No longer would he sit upon
Ciabata, baguette, or plain white loaf.
Demanded he, that noble cheese,
His own place on the plate.
How would such news be taken,
By cheese's glutenous chum?
Abandoned by the only one,
With the creamy capability,
To turn his blandness to pure bliss?
Deserted by a culinary world.
Yellow, now, is in vogue -
So different from bread's bland
White and grey and brown.
Cheese, now in the spotlight,
Recognized as staple food, as wholesome snack,
His creamy capabilities,
Looked upon with awe,
As he sits, content,
On his own place on the plate.
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Rain
I can hear you
making small holes
in the silence
rain
If I were deaf
the pores of my skin
would open to you
and shut
And I
should know you
by the lick of you
if I were blind
the something
special smell of you
when the sun cakes
the ground
the steady
drum-roll sound
you make
when the wind drops
But if I
should not hear
smell or feel or see
you
you would still
define me
disperse me
wash over me
rain
Hone Tuwhare
Some books by Hone Tuwhare:
'No Ordinary Sun'
'Something Nothing'
'Sapwood & Milk'
'Piggy Back Moon'
making small holes
in the silence
rain
If I were deaf
the pores of my skin
would open to you
and shut
And I
should know you
by the lick of you
if I were blind
the something
special smell of you
when the sun cakes
the ground
the steady
drum-roll sound
you make
when the wind drops
But if I
should not hear
smell or feel or see
you
you would still
define me
disperse me
wash over me
rain
Hone Tuwhare
Some books by Hone Tuwhare:
'No Ordinary Sun'
'Something Nothing'
'Sapwood & Milk'
'Piggy Back Moon'
Sunday, 9 November 2008
a sad day
'Tis a sad day for those who tend towards the left in New Zealand.
Helen Clark's resigned, and John Key is our new prime minister.
I don't care how straight his teeth are, you must admit, his inflection is shocking.
Hmf.
On a more positive note, Winston Peters is gone.
Gone gone gone!
If politicians were cars:
The 'John Key' – a flashy, sports model that was left over from an era of cheap oil and empty roads. Has loads of horsepower and a flashy exterior - but wears out fast if taken on longer journeys.
Aside from power, the John Key’s biggest selling point is a flashy front grill and comfortable seats for corporate passengers.
Prone to strange whining noises.
Initial reports suggest that the John Key’s steering is extremely vague and may swing to the far fight without warning. Unsuitable for beneficiaries.
Helen Clark's resigned, and John Key is our new prime minister.
I don't care how straight his teeth are, you must admit, his inflection is shocking.
Hmf.
On a more positive note, Winston Peters is gone.
Gone gone gone!
If politicians were cars:
The 'John Key' – a flashy, sports model that was left over from an era of cheap oil and empty roads. Has loads of horsepower and a flashy exterior - but wears out fast if taken on longer journeys.
Aside from power, the John Key’s biggest selling point is a flashy front grill and comfortable seats for corporate passengers.
Prone to strange whining noises.
Initial reports suggest that the John Key’s steering is extremely vague and may swing to the far fight without warning. Unsuitable for beneficiaries.
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Straws.
How are straws made?
By extrusion moulding, presumably, but what about the little red lines?
For that matter, why put little red lines on them at all?
The mysterious articles in question.
A very complicated version that is of no use:
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Drinking-Straw.html
A (very) short history of drinking straws:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blstraws.htm
I can find no answers.
By extrusion moulding, presumably, but what about the little red lines?
For that matter, why put little red lines on them at all?
The mysterious articles in question.
A very complicated version that is of no use:
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Drinking-Straw.html
A (very) short history of drinking straws:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blstraws.htm
I can find no answers.
Friday, 7 November 2008
the meaning of life
I'm never going to be the best.
Not the best cellist.
Or poet.
Or composer.
Or blogger, for that matter.
An aside for those who are semantically aware.
Should I have used nor?
Nor pianist.
Nor poet.
Nah. Reminds me too much of nori.
Take that, conservative prescriptivism.
We are all forever paled (dodgy word use blog of the year) by those who have gone before us, and will come after us.
We are specks.
Tiny, tiny specks.
Small, insignificant
(suspensive pause)
specks.
I continue because of God.
What would I continue for if I wasn't Christian?
What do you continue for?
If only I'd read more Camus...
He wrote a book about this, you see.
Not the best cellist.
Or poet.
Or composer.
Or blogger, for that matter.
An aside for those who are semantically aware.
Should I have used nor?
Nor pianist.
Nor poet.
Nah. Reminds me too much of nori.
Take that, conservative prescriptivism.
We are all forever paled (dodgy word use blog of the year) by those who have gone before us, and will come after us.
We are specks.
Tiny, tiny specks.
Small, insignificant
(suspensive pause)
specks.
I continue because of God.
What would I continue for if I wasn't Christian?
What do you continue for?
If only I'd read more Camus...
He wrote a book about this, you see.
Labour vs National
Blue or red.
Liberal or conservative.
It's election time.
The Obama vs McCain battle has overshadowed NZ's own little democratic battleground, and some analysts are going so far as to suggest the liberal victory in the USA might cause voters here to follow suit - but I'm really not sure.
I'm firmly a Greens supporter, and would pick Labour over National every time.
In previous years, I have always shied away from political discussions, only having a very brief outline of different parties and their policies - but this year, I decided it was time a took a serious look at politics in Aotearoa. After several hours on the internet, I reached the aforementioned decision.
I found 'If politicians were cars' particularly enjoyable.
http://www.decision08.co.nz/Features/IfPoliticianswereCars/tabid/209/Default.aspx
If only I were voting age...
Liberal or conservative.
It's election time.
The Obama vs McCain battle has overshadowed NZ's own little democratic battleground, and some analysts are going so far as to suggest the liberal victory in the USA might cause voters here to follow suit - but I'm really not sure.
I'm firmly a Greens supporter, and would pick Labour over National every time.
In previous years, I have always shied away from political discussions, only having a very brief outline of different parties and their policies - but this year, I decided it was time a took a serious look at politics in Aotearoa. After several hours on the internet, I reached the aforementioned decision.
I found 'If politicians were cars' particularly enjoyable.
http://www.decision08.co.nz/Features/IfPoliticianswereCars/tabid/209/Default.aspx
If only I were voting age...
Man as a Political Animal - Aristotle strikes again
Are we best served to follow cutlure or nature?
Or are we naturally cultural?
I, at first glance, I would side with Aristotle in that man is not an animal in cultural chains but a cultural animal. Our moral and intellectual faculties make it imperative that we live in a structured society.
At second glance I would observe that perhaps the kind of city-states, with under 100,000 people, that Aristotle spoke about made this rule more relevant then than now.
Is law really natural? Since the earliest times, man has formed a circle and judged criminals with the aid of a chief. So, yes.
But have we taken it too far, with our modern systems, to reliant upon written laws and too little on human judgment? I'm not sure if there is a way to have an ideal, or near ideal, law system for such large groups of people as we try to today. After all, is not any system of law based upon the fundamental moral values of a society? How, then, can we expect this to function for a society that has such a diverse range of value systems?
I don't think we can.
Aristotle - 1
Jessica - 1
Related books to read:
Aristotle's Politics
Alan Harding's A Social History of English Law
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
a thought from Lewis Caroll
Is all our Life, then but a dream
Seen faintly in the golden gleam
Athwart Time's dark resistless stream?
Seen faintly in the golden gleam
Athwart Time's dark resistless stream?
Languages, languages everywhere ...
Wouldn't it be amazing to be bilingual.
Depending on which theory you fancy, you are either able to experience the world in two completely different ways, or experience two completely different worlds. Which is the same thing, I guess.
That's a gourmet vegetarian sausage for thought, that is.
Depending on which theory you fancy, you are either able to experience the world in two completely different ways, or experience two completely different worlds. Which is the same thing, I guess.
That's a gourmet vegetarian sausage for thought, that is.
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