magpies Archives - colleen keating

BIRDS our ‘feathered angels’

colleen General August 15, 2020September 20, 2020birds, Leunig, magpies, native miners, Rainbow lorikeets, Sulphur crested white cockatoos

Birds

according to Leunig are our ‘feathered angels’

I could hear them in the distance
and in this time of ISO I wanted them closer.
I wanted them around.

But it’s not working . . .
Feeding birds on a terrace
albeit a large terrace
having the birds call in
is not working. I feel opposition.

I tell the birds not to make such noise and try to share.

It was Ok in summer when they called in for water
now it is seed and they get too excited.
Yes it thrills me and sends me buzzing.
Their energy is exhiliarating.

A pair of magpies passing by call in
and two little rainbow lorikeets keep calling
and the chirping native miners are always around
and their song and colour and energy brings us alive
in this time of self isolation.

But you see when the cockatoos heard
there was a chance of a feed
they came to take over
and I worried the neighbours and cockatoos
would not get along.

I didn’t want complaints.
Yes there are neighbours close by – up and down.

It is the sulphur crested white cockatoos
that bring bedlam and chaos and might end the deal.

STOP PRESS: Today 20th September 2020 a new addition to the terrace. A Galah arrived

to try and push in with the Cockatoos. I got a few pictures to add to this blog. I am so happy they visited the terrace. I saw two in the garden earlier this week and was wishing they would come. Photos of the Galah visiting follows this gallery of colourful angels atound us.

The Launch of Desert Patterns by Colleen Keating

colleen General, Poetry March 20, 2020March 21, 2020alice springs, Book launch, Desert Patterns, Ginninderra Press, magpies, mallee, mulga, Olive Pink Botanic garden, Stephen Matthews

A launch or not a launch

The beautiful collection of poetry Desert Patterns is launched at a non-launch in a Desert Garden.

At the Olive Pink Botanic Garden in Alice Springs, Central Australia, with an idea of ‘no clustering groups’ which is now coined ‘social distancing’ we launched Desert Patterns in a desert garden to wallabies, a wide variety of interested birds, skinks, the wonderful vegetation of this arid garden and to one very curious Euro ( a mountain wallaby who hopped down from Annie Meyers Hill to join the frey.

as I read ‘quiet stillness settles into our very soul’

and continued:

‘maybe it’s the way the light falls

throws its arms around the old familiar cliffs

brings them alive beckons come

come’

desert patterns

the landscape dreams
of caterpillars and rainbow serpents
composed
sculptured
moulded for aeons
wind water sand
carved chiseled hefted
hewn
from rock and clay
heave of ochre red
weave curve wave

desert patterns
draw us in

every escarpment every contour
named and known
as a mother knows its children
garments of beauty
that dress our earth
like whims of scarves

desert patterns
draw us in

the night sky dreams
of journeys emus echidnas
black spaces
compose
shimmer
imagination
reflects ancient stories

desert patterns
draw us in

desert garden 18/03/2020 ( written the day of the launch . Not in the poetry book)

already some have gathered under the umbrellas
conversations tête-à-tête over coffee
hushed murmurs like one makes in a cathedral
standing in the presence of awe-inspiring domes
and zig-zag shimmer
of coloured floors of lead-light reflection

here dreamy gold light catches the tips of ghost gums –
Namatjira’s signature –that breaks the silence from long ago
how arrogant in our colonising we had become
from rocky boulders rustic-red breaks in the hills
flames out in mica shine
wallabies laze in shady groves of Mulga.

magpies sing from spindly river gums
and one wallaby sits in red sand nearby
no doubt waiting for left over fare.

all morning the magpies watch me in the garden
their bodies wiry sleek and mottled
a good reminder of yin and yang
the balance that we always seek

I write in my journal sip my coffee
nibble on toasted fruit loaf with tiny strips of cherry
spread with whipped cinnamon butter.
Around us spinifex pigeons enjoy the company

I am startled by beauty wherever i look
and I wonder how proud Olive Pink would be
to see us all enjoying the peace of her long ago vision

Mother and joey sun set from Anzac Hill in Alice

Thanks to all our supporters, . Thanks to Ginninderra Press and to the magic of Inland Australia.

Myall Creek Memorial Commemoration Weekend

colleen General June 7, 2018June 14, 2018Armidale, Leonie, magpies, Massacre, Memorial of Myall Creek, Myall Creek, Sharon, Tamworth, The Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place

Myall Creek Memorial CommemorationWeekend

In memory of the Wirrayaraay people who were murdered on the slopes of this ridge in an unprovoked but premeditated act in the late afternoon of June 10th 1838.

DAY 1

Left Sydney early heading north to Scone to have lunch with Sharon our dear friend.

Then up over the Liverpool Range to Tamworth for the night.

Here are a few moments of beauty from the window of our car as we drove the New England Highway with sun setting in the west.

DAY 2

Today from Tamworth the journey is like a poem in itself.

tell me about the magpies

their song croons our picnic table
our soul knows the song
it plays the strings of our heart
we leave the cracked aroma
of the pepper tree but not the magpies
sadly farewell the tamed Peel River
but not the magpies
they come with us
climb the Liverpool range
windmills, tanks, cattle and sheep
Goonoo Goonoo, Wallabadah
Moonni Range,
Thunderbolt and Hanging Rock
Katingle, Bendemeer, Uralla
and massive boulder and grass trees
along the way
and in Armidale the magpies welcome us.
Tell me about the magpies
and I’ll tell you about me.

Turn west onto the New England Tableland into Armidale.
Autumn is lingering in the cool crisp highland air.
The gardens of our motel are stunning with their late rich autumn dress.

The Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place

Our evening began amidst smoke with a eucalypt aroma
a smoking ceremony and deep earthy sound of the didgeridoo
under a dark starry sky around an open fire.

The young people dancing the echidna dance
and to more modern music

then to the opening of the exhibition Looking Beyond the 1838 Massacre.

WE REMEMBER THEM
Ngiyani winangay ganunga

Leonie who gave the welcome to country and her dancers from Duval High School,
with me at the Opening of the exhibition Myall Creek