Views in verse on life's lessons

The crucible of boyhood

I remember well the creek near my home
Where our fledgling group played on-and-off for years
A few short minutes down the road
Prized domain of my childhood peers;
This ‘bolt-hole’,
This window into nature,
Fed these boys’ boundless dreamy wonder.
Not a stream, you’d say, but a trickle of a creek
The tadpoles and the frogs
Our captive subjects there
The odd tortoise if our luck was really in
Colourful dragonflies, they’d flight, buzz and stare;
A bridge too, there amongst it,
Our meeting place down-under.

A sea of bull-rushes guarded the sloping banks
We’d tamp them down and shape ourselves a fort
Within which, we’d gather distinctive objects about
To mark ownership of sorts;
Whereupon other lads would
By their nature, regularly invade,
Something you learnt of the tribal game.
Then one day to our surprise
Our hide came crashing down
A great yellow machine rolled on in to stay
An enemy such as this, we could not resist
Without a thought, so much taken away;
Our haven, brutally folded, into the ground
We had to prowl the streets …beyond, to stake a claim!

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse - on teamwork

Why do we try so hard to succeed on our own?

'Oft-seen faces'

Sitting on this craggy ridge...

Gazing at my fallen bridge...

The weather's hit me hard this year...

Not sure where to go from here?

Take this rambling road, our sole traverse

Has a mind of its own and a devils curse

Some days I have what it takes I'm sure

but others...

Well ...I'm not so sure

When it's not the floods

it's the constant sun

40 plus brings you right undone

Just reaching the cattle's often tough

Priming them ...I can't do well enough

Can I take this another year?

What will the banker say I fear?

These are times that stop you dead

And cop-outs nag 

So deep in your head:

Is there a fortune to be had?

Would my life be rich and glad...?

In shiny cars in far off places?

Save this farm and these 'oft-seen faces'?

(but you know...)

Surrender is for mugs & fools...

What use downing trusted tools

Where barriers may block our way

Belief arrives with the coming day

And although life can torment you

these 'oft-seen faces' see you through

They will always sustain you

The ones you love will see you through

Grahame J Flynn - Sent from my iPhone

Views in Verse on 'the importance of chance'

Chance

Chance is your weapon in life
To willfully ‘have a go’
If you’re not willing to ‘break that mold’
You’ll never ever know
Just how full your given life can be

Time is a bandit
With no comfort spared to share
Expecting us to confront ‘our lot’
‘Step outside the square’;
Contentment’s most accessible to the free.

The wary, far too often
Are frozen by reserve
Window’s close too quickly
A slave to one’s own nerve
Making it far too easy to forget...

‘Down the road’ they will challenge
Through much more seeing eyes
“Did you chance to chase that prize …?”
“Take the risks that realize…?”
“No remorse …no excuse …no regret”.

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in verse on equal rights

Views in verse on equal rights

The gay marriage bill was this week passed into law by the Australian parliament

It has become trendy to ALWAYS say "this is a journey, not a destination" but NO this WAS a destination!!!

Right of Passage

It's your time
Lovely boy
your hard work's almost done
Acceptance wasn't easy
in a school designed for some
Your progression has been honest
Your plans so well thought through
Adulthood came quickly
from your trials

Yet it'll take time
Lovely boy
to see a fairer state
In a society
designed just for some
Why do politicians we elect
hide so well from truth?
Can we allow this
mere 'opinion on the run' ?

Own the space
Lovely boy
look to those who lead
Accept things you can't change
yet fight for what you need
Equal rights are there for all
no matter how it often seems
Don't let anybody
keep you
from your dreams!!!

Forwarded from my iPhone - Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

View in verse on perspective

Views in Verse - on perspective.

Work / home life balance is about the most important thing in life. Not many of we men do it as well as we really would like... it takes us quite a few years to realize it though!

These Days

Bright lights may tempt your fate
the road brings sights unseen
Each new day sharpens the senses
success brings valleys green

Opportunity comes far a-field
travel's my constant friend
Yet solace dumbs sincerity
The truth is there to bend

How many times can you bury your head
at the end of a working day
Having given your time to people and place
and anything that will pay?

These days a lotta time goes by
Where you just don't say
what you feel
But with every turn of the road
and every tug at the wheel
I'm going back to what is real

My life has been a whirlpool
Where I've mixed both right and wrong
As the road has been my driver
I've learnt to play along

Given all of this
my family has waited
at the end of an endless queue
Where priority fools intention
and good men found are few

So how many times can you bury your head
at the end of a working day
Having given your time to people and place
and anything that will pay

These days a lotta time goes by
Where you just don't say
what you feel
but with every turn of the road
And every tug at the wheel
I'm going back to what is real

Earlier today
I came upon some people
Up on a rugged mountain bend
Huddled around a biker
who came to a sticky end

Got me to thinking
Of life and death
And all that comes between
Makes you wonder
what it's all about
...what life really means?

As I drove away
I swore that
this month will be my last
Chasing orders
on outback roads
My tour of duty past
My tour of duty past

These days a lotta time goes by
Where you just don't say
what you feel
but with every turn of the road
And every tug at the wheel
I'm going back to what is real
I'm going back to what is real

forwarded from my Iphone - Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in verse on 'power, abuse and its unseeing victims'

Views in verse on 'power, abuse and its unseeing victims'

"It took Ridley Scott two weeks to totally edit Kevin Spacey out of his movie" -newslink 2/12/17

Is there any good news here ...seriously? You have an industry that has profited so heavily on this flawed man for decades but they can't any longer, he is now 'unsaleable'...they 'heroically' cut the cord'.So as to now do the 'so called - right thing?'. Something they should have done YEARS before. Mulholland Drive lives! The unanswered question: what changes will they make in the future? Any comparisons here to 'The Church' and its institutionalized endemic child abuse? Should we seriously despair for the values of the western world? Will we? ...I think not.

Is God in ...?

I drove off today in search of the
day I lost
Somewhere the night before
Fifty miles on I stop...
Fifty miles from my door

I carry too a passenger
who is eating me alive
Running from yourself
Sure isn't easy...
all I could do was drive

I get out by a picket fence
Reflecting lives lived once within
Little to say but
Front door open ...back door too
Spirits left cold therein

Cross after cross pock this town
outnumbered
only by stray dogs
Precious little life
in this park here either
Save the crumpled 'wino' logs

A preacher calls
"there's comfort here"!
Hard to believe by his grin
Everyone playing on
something special on
evil, guilt or sin.

How desperate am I
to tackle this state...?
I gotta lead with my chin
But before I enter...
I can't help but ask
"...is god (really) in?"

"In fact...
Why not take me to him now?
He must be aware of my state
I have some issues
That we must address
best handled face to face"

"I'll tell him true of my own view
that all the world's in pain
Misguided, lost,
and disconnected,
bent on personal gain"

I ask the thoughts then
of a nearby woman
Just to get me back on track
She confides:
"fact is man ...I only come here
for the soup that's out the back"

As I join the queue
a guy demands
"First we need to know
where you're from...?"
"And look ...for a 'fair price' son
we can send some product along"

Then he says:
"trust in God
and you will never ever fear"
To this I reply:
"I feel your hype my friend
but if salvation's really near..."

"My maker must have a halo bright
Something I can aspire to...
I've been searching...
Yeah, I've been searching...but
There's nought like that round here"

And to what avail?
I challenge myself...
To find someone who'll listen...?
Intervention must start with me
To free me from this prison

Cold stone arches
Hold little appeal
in taming an untamed head
And taking the easy road
is...'easy '
Time after time instead...

I slip into a strip bar
two doors up
to find a smile for the road
Didn't find a smile...no...
Not at all
But I sure enough dropped my load

Not much left of this 'goddam' day
Dusk dim
the falling sun's rays
I ask a street kid
for directions
He manfully shows me the way

Forwarded from my I-pad - Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

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Views in Verse on reflection

RIPPLES

I came to the woodland
In search of answers
To face some grating issues in my life
The setting, so pure,
In every shape and form
The grass untouched by trouble, stress or strife
There I lay
In sync with the insect drumming
The birdsong soothing there beside the lazy watercourse
Eventually, I moved to the edge
With a view to reflection
Mirrored from the depths of nature’s source
As I searched the ripples
The image came free…
What I could glean there …‘solemnly’ looking back was …me?
These days, taciturn, I reflect knowing that
Reality is too often constrained by
What we, obliquely, permit ourselves to see

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on 'the black underbelly'

Views in Verse on 'the black underbelly'

Dark side of the Dawning

Each stranger looks right through you 
Your life-blood is in their hands
Alleys take on a glancing view
A foreboding no-go land
At my window a chill now grabs me
Some things you can't understand
(Why don't you...?)

Hold on tight, it'll be alright
Not long before the morning
Then you come softly to me on the
Dark side of the Dawning

Some stray light flashes about my door
Noisy thrashing out in the hall
Moonlight peeps back into the room
To be vexed by a raven's call
Sometimes sleep comes hard to me ...
It's only a paper-thin wall
So...

Hold on tight, it'll be alright
Not long before it's morning
With you here sleeping at my side on the
Dark side of the Dawning

Sirens wailing out of control
With their pained droning pitch
While a hooded man in plain view
Deals below getting rich
As drunks curse their maker loud
From the dark end of the street...
There are things the 'righteous spirit'
Just can't beat, let's...

Hold on tight, it'll be alright
Not long till it is morning
With you here dreaming at my side on the
Dark side of the Dawning

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Sent from my iPhone

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Sent from my iPhone

Views in Verse on Success

A road to wherever…

What is the road to success?
Does ambition mean ‘the corner office’?
Or, perhaps to ‘work in a refugee camp’?
Commercial leaders, it is said, ‘live-life alone’.
Is ambition measured by ‘climbing the ladder’?
Or will taking-care of others be the prime role?
Is a pre-determined ‘path to success’ the answer…?
Or ‘getting the most out of life’ the main goal?

Some people aspire to little (it may seem)…
Just to be left to their own worldly devices
While passion for some can be so overwhelming
They simply ‘trust intuition’ then ‘go’.
Whatever the answer it involves some questions
About what one considers to be …‘right’?
A life grounded in some belief in social justice or
Should the tiger care-less about the sheep in the fight?

Life is often considered a journey
A passage from A to Z
Yet, really it is iterative, a circle,
Our actions clear enough to us in our heads.
So, in time, we alone will judge our success
Of that one can’t deny;
While our ‘road to wherever’ begins early
Something we’ll reconcile often ...before we die.

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on faith, finality & foregiveness

Faith, Finality & Forgiveness

Politician, lost at the sphincter of life
Fighting hard to pass on through;
The laird’s answer a simple but firm denial.
Corrupted by life itself
Stilted fate, rusted gate
And values surely broken....

A beggar spoke: "I’ve suffered long
While traveling here
In search of someone who's kind."
"The search for it alas
Has cost me my faith,
Despairing too in my place and time".

A preacher now lurched between the two
Seeking loose alignment...
"My friends, once I had a key but I'm sorry I maligned it."
"Help me now to find a way...
Compass lost, my breast is crossed
Prayer alone can help me find it".

The politician searched his pockets deep
T'was nothing there he offered,
The moment full sweaty with indignity.
The beggar in turn growled
Such the clang of the moment terse;
Suppliant words uttered in contrition
...irreverently.
.
From the desktop of Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on Responsibility

Views in Verse on Responsibility

JUSTIFIABLE CARELESSNESS

Is there anything quite as vulnerable
As the last child crossing the road?
Society comes as a triumph to all, less one,
The dispossessed wander off alone.
Is ‘justice for all’ just a pipe-dream?
Dark chasm, maybe a lie?
Is there anything more uncaring,
Threatening, contrived
Than the wink in a politician’s eye?

Do we need to callously use
Fear as a weapon …?
A peep behind a veil
May only expose a tear.
Is there a path beyond detention…?
Is there love for the gay we hold?
Can we assume that people
Simply make it on their own?
Are we protecting due rights of the old?

Does the media care at all for justice?
Or is indifference the palette they choose?
Feigned reality always has it's own killing field
Is truth the real victim of our news?
When we choose our leaders
Do we search at all for integrity?
A key ingredient …down the road
The alpha wolf always leads from the rear
Never leaving the weak exposed.

From the desktop of Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in verse on providence

Views in Verse on providence

The Light

Beauty so surrounds us

Are our eyes too dumb to clearly see?

What is this makes such dazzling light 

Lo, turn to dark on me?

Even when the sky’s on fire 

After a warm baked summer’s day

How cannot the entendant joy 

Well keep the doubt at bay?

When there’s life in every pore…

So rich in loves galore…

Gentle breeze and deep blue seas do woo

Look away, see a sure-path, well-lit for you!

From my desktop Grahame j Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on: power corrupts!

CONGRATULATIONS to the AFL on their stance regarding senior executives abusing the DEPENDENCY of junior staff members in their ranks!!!

I have watched the Seven West, CEO/ media circus/courtroom matter with interest these past few weeks and the logical conclusion to this now appears to be that the now penniless woman involved was a 'natural predator'. This of course being brought to bear by a bevy of expensive lawyers ...hmmm. It may be true, may, ...but nevertheless how can we interpret the actions (sub judice) of Mr. Worner? Was this ok?

The level of competence, including responsibility, required to run major business operations is immense. Part of what they MUST demonstrate at all times in such positions is to act appropriately. POWER is a curse in the hands of the wrong people. We see this demonstrated on a daily basis in world affairs. It is further no different in the business world.

Accountability is the ultimate yardstick. Just as we see too with our elite sports people; they must be held to account for their PERSONAL behaviour whether at work or not!!! It comes with the role; to be upheld 24x7.

Further, governance by boards, in these matters, must also be held under the spotlight to ensure that there is regular compliance in what most of us would consider as 'doing the right thing'. Sadly, the values espoused by most corporations are only window dressing and only carry related lip-service. 

Power corrupts!

Well done AFL, both Board & CEO!

Views in verse - Weekend Warriors

Weekend Warriors

Trump just can't put a foot right it seems
The Redhead's lighting mad Calwell's dream
ISIL now up north declaring war
Indonesia warms to Shariah Law
And ...what damage 'Malcolm in the muddle'...?
Abbott's banking on a second stumble
Blimey! Let's all go out and 'stone the bloody crows'

But, things really aren't quite so bad today...

Electricity's gonna send us all to the cleaners
Coal's good enough to export, not for sensitive demeanours
The government appears a hapless party in it all
Indeed if you made an enlightened call
You would think our political system is bloody imploding
As with the rest of the western world…

But you know, things aren't really quite so bad today…

Rupert's army has all the questions and the cure
Vegemite has mysteriously lost it’s allure
The power of celebrity is defying common sense
Bloke in the pub reckons the world's about to end
Old Fred says we've given up on god
Surrendering 'the ashes' without turning a sod;
Might just be the sad finale to it all!

But you know ...things really aren't quite so bad today:

'We enjoy the odd flutter to raise good cheer
We've got our smokes and few daily beers,
Improvements to health and school have left
The missus 'grinning ' from what she hears
The kid is doing fine in the rugby league
The daughter's loving the fizzy and the dancing beam
Parra showing them a little cheek
The Swans are taking it week by week
With the Blues in the hunt as well...

While ‘the best of it all’ THE WEEKEND's only a day or two away...'

Things REALLY aren't ...quite so bloody bad today!l

Sent from my iPhone Grahame j Flynn Views in Verse

views in verse - Rude awakening number #9

Rude awakening number 9

John Entwistle's bass,
Was the groove I heard as I ghosted into the room
Me, an anxious stranger to this scene
A 'man in black' stood by the door
Satisfied, quite serene

That wonderful singer from Dragon
Charmed the girls,
As he moved around the stage
So many great songs came to mind
Jon English mouthed: "relax man, ...'turn the page'"

On the stage,
A vast array of colour, race and creed
Their offerings seamlessly blending into a rare musical treat:
Blues, jazz, alternative, rock...
All genres it seemed ...complete.

Lennon stalked,
In a suit of white
Desperate to catch an unloving woman's eye
While Morrison, looking out of place in a sailors suit,
Couldn't escape a ranked officer's ire

A blast of sax from the master,
Clarence Clemens
The sound just filled the place
Satchmo stood beside him too, blowing up a storm
White towel, busy across his face

The MC at large,
Was Bobby Darren
He handled the role with aplomb
As Dean Martin filled his glass from a water cooler
While he drank, he warbled a song ('King of the road')

I was mesmerised too
By a sea of guitars
Hendrix looked over with a cheeky stare
And offered me his own guitar
I blurted,'Love to mate ...but I don't really dare'

A band of drummers,
Worked in time
Percussion, always a 'renegade tribe'
Moon and Bonham just sitting there
Tapped to the soothing vibe

Sinatra, Elvis, Michael...
Together on one stage
Something we were never blessed to see
I looked once, looked twice, rubbed my eyes
Why was this happening to me?

The warm full face of Ted Mulry
Then settled me down
With such a disarming grin
Word had spread that another Beatle had joined the house
The mood became a rolling hymn (Krishna, Krishna)

Following on,
I chanced to see my Dad
Singing his favorite, 'Mary's Boy Child'
(I love that to this day)
Belafonte then joined him too
Across a crackling PA

Thorpie was there in force
(Keep on a rockin', Bill)
No surprise to say
Cass Elliott was closing things out
In her own super-talented way
When the shrill alarm broke it apart ohhh!!!
The rudeness of the day!

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn - views in verse

Views in Verse - 'keep your eye on the target'

Golf and life ...happy aggregations of best intentions

I'm a golfer. An ordinary one ...but a keen one. I, like most others, find it often so frustrating. What should be so simple ...can appear so hard! And yet...

Improving our golf game is a lot like life at large: we can too easily get lost in the sheer complexity and as a result lose our way. Yet, breaking free from this mire can be simply a matter of refocusing on what it is that we are really trying to achieve.

I find in golf that there are often periods during which I struggle with complications until eventually coming to see that I have been too preoccupied with my own technique rather than focusing on: where it is that I really need to be ...'near the flag' (from the fairway) or, even more so ...'in the hole' (when on the green).

Instead of the target at hand, it is so easy to be distracted by ‘where the feet are in relation to the ball’ or indeed to be preoccupied by things such as ‘how far up it is that I am taking back my club-head in the swing-arc’ or indeed a hundred other things. Minor changes seem to loom large and confound the obvious intention.

Frustration and resulting poor performance can so easily come from getting lost in the detail. The solution being: to never lose sight of what it is that you are directly trying to achieve! Keeping in mind that the 'means-to-the-end' (competencies) should be thoughtfully addressed and practised 'before' we seek to engage. Easy to say, yet too often by-passed. Preparation, before engagement.

The big picture should always remain the guiding target during execution!

Happy days!

Grahame Flynn

Dressed to thrill... - Views in verse

Dressed to thrill...

Wouldn’t it be good
For once in our lives
To see something really interesting 
Come out of Canberra
Hopes are high
For overdue decisions
But alas…once more ‘anathema’

Although, for a change:
Near lost my head
As I saw the footage
And my chin hit the desk with a thump
When at the mid-winter's ball
Malcolm in such polished form
Dazzled as Donald Trump

Upon reflection
Do we expect too much
Of our bumbling elected few...
What's in it for them to gain?
When you weight it all up
Their mission quite simply in their own eyes
Is they're there to entertain’!!!

(How could we have the gall to judge them so harshly?)

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

https://youtu.be/bH8Pua_vzbs

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Midnight Oil's ...just another day at the office:

"Knife's Edge"

On a knife edge razor day
If you listen long enough they've got nothing to say

It's a time warp place don't change
The rhythm of the night, the beating rain

You move fast to get off of that merry-go-round

There's one gun, probably more
And the others are pointing at our backdoor

At the best hotel of all
Put my name on the wall, put my bed on the floor

You get much less well it seems like more
Heart's still sore

Word crimes
Bitter lies
Bitter crimes
Government Lies

PS: maybe we can even forgive Peter all these years later ...now there's an entertainer!

Views in Verse on a change of pace

Views in Verse on a change of pace

A Change of Pace

Take me back to that sunny reach
And that winding steepling road
Back to where you're known
By your family name
And the folk come out to greet you;
Back where horses roam free
In a gallery green and
The cattle rarely do
What you would want them to do
But you don’t let that defeat you!

Where intentions are sealed
On the nod of a head
And the neighbors are there
As your helper, your ally
Your friend;
Where the community is one
Against hardship and
Nature at large,
Always, a supporting hand to lend

Here, I came to be the person I am
With a strong work ethic,
Seven days work, week on week
Can leave you, oddly wanting for more;
While my father
Would break things up
With our ritual trips to Kelly's providors
Where bottle-tops served splendidly
as a mottled bespoke floor

And the sun rises slow
And easy in the east
Across a wide savanna...
As your willing glove crackles hard
So early in your hand;
Until the day's work is done and
The sun sets weary
In a reddened spray
With the locusts
As a one pitch band

To this, I come with my wife to be
As she seeks a new life
'in the tops'
She will relish the lifestyle shifts
And the rewarding change of pace;
Among the shadowed halls of twilight
As one of the fortunate few
Who share a relish for such splendor
In the sheer wonder of this place.

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse