In and Around My Agitato Mind
1
The victim
I knew fear
When the bully turned his attention to me
When his sneer settled into a satisfied smirk
Accompanied by a condescending glare
Comprised of evil glints behind the blackest of eyes
and a palpably hot internal furnace of anger
He knowingly appraised me
He looked into my very soul
He asked himself the unspoken questions
only I should have known the answers to,
but he determined in a instant
What vulnerability lies here?
What weakness can I exploit
to the point of causing immediate pain
and then
terrible ongoing hurt?
Thus
I became a victim
I let him use my own low self esteem
as the leverage necessary to do me harm
To render me powerless to resist
To enable me to damage myself even further
To punish myself for allowing
the damage to be done
I became complicit
in my own degradation and misery
With no one to blame but myself
Bring your love
Lover’s touch
The curve and swing of shapely hip
Inclines my eye to stray aslip
Invites a touch a lover’s grip
That pulls you in for ear lobe nip
My hand upon your rising chest
Tells me how deep you are at rest
The rate and depth of rise and fall
Is enough to tell a lover all
The fingertips that stroke my back
Are fingertips with lover’s knack
For tantalising or powerful pressure
To change a mood for love or leisure
My lips upon your upraised mouth
As tongues flicker lightly about
Full and soft moist and wet
I cannot forgo I’ll ne’er forget
The foot that strokes my leg in bed
Before we sleep each night has said
With this caress I love you each night
A touch confirming love’s delight
The cheek that absorbs teardrops weight
Is the cheek I brush for comfort’s sake
At the pleasure of our love’s great joy
At grief’s sadness when loss employs
Tableland Talk, May 2021
The Bridge
My response to Lillian’s d’verse challenge to write a poem in a modern form called the Puente. The first and third stanza must have an equal number of lines and be connected by a second stanza bridging line demarked by the tilde. https://dversepoets.com
We dreamed of a bridge to adulthood
When we bought a house looking good
We’d settle as a family
My wild days behind me
Having scrimped and saved all we could
~the bridging finance broke us~
The deposit we mustered and paid
The lender suspiciously delayed
We were soon out of pocket
Bridging costs on the docket
Lost the house and felt quite betrayed
Strathbogie Cycling: Nagambie – Murchison Loop
Link & Chain / Road Cycling Route
Route Name / Address:
Nagambie – Murchison Loop
Start / Finish locations:
Nagambie Railway Station Prentice St., Nagambie 3608
Mode:
Road bike (or any other mode you prefer)
GPS 36.785292° S 145.160579° E
Difficulty:
Easy – as long as the distance is OK for you
Distance:
50km
Elevation:
211 – 145m
Topography:
Flat
Surfaces:
Sealed bitumen. Narrow around Kirwans Bridge and Goulburn Weir. Firm dirt shoulders. Murchison East has quite a bit of through traffic, but broad sealed shoulders. Morningside Rd has quite a bit of patching. It is the roughest section, not too bad.
If you wish to join the Rail Trail to Rushworth at Murchison (another 7 – 10km one way dependent on where you start), you will require a bike able to manage a gravel surface.
Description and Features:
Nagambie is well serviced, Murchison less so, but can offer accommodation, food and drink. This is flat river plains country. The route parallels the Goulburn River, Weir and major irrigation canals most of the way. There are various scenic sites, such as the aged Kirwans Bridge, broad vistas across prime grazing and cropping land, quality horse studs and wineries.
Riding conditions:
Generally, fairly low traffic during the week with more tourists about on the weekends. Some long straight stretches. There is little shelter from the elements on the road.
Options:
Include the Rail Trail to Rushworth.
Start anywhere
Clockwise or anti
Clockwise Cues:
Start Nagambie Railway Station
Straight Prentice St
Right High St
Left Lobbs Lane
Left Kirwans Bridge Rd
Right Goulburn Weir – Murchison Rd
Right High Rd
Right Wahring – Murchison Rd
Left Morningside Rd
Straight Hayshed Rd
Straight Grimwade Rd
Straight High St
Left Prentice St
Straight Nagambie Railway Station
Amenities (in each township):
Car parking
BBQ
Fuel
Shops
Winery
Seating
Parkland
Waterway
Playground
Picnic tables
Public toilets
Potable water
Walking tracks
Accommodation
Historic features
Sports Reserves
Swimming Pool
Railway stations
Directional signs
Information signs
Extension routes
Cautions:
Open water
Soft shoulders
Limbs may fall
Embankments
Uneven ground
Slippery surfaces
Subject to flooding
Road surfaces vary
Snakes may be active
Beware of vehicle traffic
Mobile reception may be unreliable
No potable water outside townships
Carry food, water, First Aid, be SunSmart
Be equipped for self-reliant riding
Restrictions:
Take rubbish with you
Historic relics are protected
Native flora and fauna are protected
Riders must use formed roads only
Tableland Talk May, 2021
Strathbogie Cycling: Violet Town – Boho Foothills Loop
VT Railway Station 
Leunig Country 
Smiths Rd view 
Boho Rd
Hub & Spoke Cycling Route Route Name: Boho Foothills Loop Start / Finish locations: Violet Town Railway Station Corner Primrose and Cowslip St., Violet Town 3669 Mode: eBike, road, hybrid, MTB Map: GPS 145.7164 -36.63884 Difficulty: Intermediate: modest rises Distance: 23km Elevation: 179 – 252m Topography: Undulating terrain Surfaces: Good condition bitumen Description and Features: A pleasant loop that follows the line between the base of the Strathbogie Tableland and the plains surrounding Violet Town. Broad vistas, attractive landscapes, pleasant foothills and roadsides of aged River Red Gums. Riding conditions: Largely exposed to the elements Anticlockwise Cues: Start Violet Town Station Head south east along Cowslip St Straight Urmston St Cross Hume Fwy Straight Harrys Creek Rd Left Hayes Rd Right Boho Rd Left Boho Church Rd Left Smiths Rd Left Boho Rd Right Hayes Rd Right Harrys Creek Rd Straight Urmston St Straight Cowslip ST Finish Violet Town Station Amenities (Violet Town): Car parking BBQ Fuel Shops Seating Parkland Waterway Playground Picnic tables Public toilets Potable water Walking tracks Accommodation Historic features Sports Reserves Swimming Pool Railway station Directional signs Information signs Off leash dog play Flora and fauna habitat Cautions: Limbs may fall Uneven ground No potable water Subject to flooding Road surfaces vary Snakes may be active Beware of vehicle traffic Mobile reception may be unreliable Carry food, water, First Aid, be SunSmart Be equipped for self-reliant riding Restrictions: Take rubbish with you Historic relics are protected Native flora and fauna are protected Riders must use formed roads only
The safe path
You tread the safe path
Never raising your eyes from your feet
Is that enough to take you
Where you want to go
One step, another, repeat
ABC Breakfast Radio interview
This morning’s interview with presenter Matt Dowling regarding my work on tracks and trails promotion in the Strathbogie region. Commences at 43.30minutes.
Doing
When there is nothing worth doing
But doing itself
Do
Photos provided for the Strathbogie Shire Annual Report
Click on this link for access to my photos in the report Strathbogie Shire Council Annual Report 2020
The Last Butterfly
When the last butterfly flutters by your seat on the grass When the sun moves overhead in one more timeless pass When the creek’s empty water flows by and on When the creatures of the bush all around you have gone Will you sit and reflect on what could have been When you knew it was coming it had been foreseen Will you ask why you didn’t when there was time and you could While you sat on the grass thinking I must then I should
Cycling: Ruffy – Red Gate Lane Loop
Hub & Spoke Route Name: Ruffy - Red Gate Lane Loop Mode: Gravel Grinder Start / Finish locations: Corner of Longwood – Ruffy Rd & Nolans Rd., Ruffy 3666 Difficulty: Intermediate Distance: 14.5km Elevation: 394 – 547m Topography: Undulating with some steep inclines Surfaces: Longwood – Ruffy Rd is sealed Nolans and Red Gate Lane are gravel Description and Features: Depart the Ruffy main street for rolling green hills of pasture, sweeping views and treed roadsides Rocky outcrops Riding conditions: Little traffic, road conditions are generally good, can be very hot in summer and cold in winter Options: Clockwise or anti clockwise Amenities (Ruffy): Ruffy Store open intermittent hours or by booking Car parking Seating Parkland Playground Accommodation Historic features Sports Reserves Directional road signs Information signs Cautions: Steep climbs Soft shoulders Uneven ground No potable water Slippery surfaces Subject to flooding Road surfaces vary Snakes may be active Beware of vehicle traffic Mobile reception may be unreliable Be mindful to keep within the Reserve Carry food, water, First Aid, be SunSmart Be equipped for self-reliant riding Anticlockwise Cues: Start corner of Longwood – Ruffy & Nolans Rd Straight Nolans Rd (west) Right Red Gate Lane Right Longwood – Ruffy Rd Finish corner of Longwood – Ruffy & Nolans Rd
Karl Jaspers – a very brief, very relevant reminder from the past.
A summary of Karl Jaspers’ writing, “Sunk in the noise of nationalism and technology, people become intellectually and emotionally stifled, stuck. The crowd rules. Slogans and rhetoric pass for meaningful conversations”. Marietta McCarthy, How philosophy can save your life. Penguin Australia 2009.
What have we learnt? A German survivor of the first and second world wars, Jaspers was an early 20th century philosopher. He still speaks to us with relevance, as if alive today. Nationalism is destructive. Those who seek advantage through manipulating others naive enough to follow blindly, to adopt the slogans of ill considered electronic media and rally to the flags of puppet masters – will be perpetrators of great harm.
However, Jaspers was not without hope. “Amidst discussion, a silence is possible in which people may listen together and hear the truth.”
Are we still able to effectively hear the truth, to discover and explore the scant remaining silence? Or have we sunk so deep into the swamp of nationalism and the noise of technology to be beyond positive, constructive, truth seeking communication?
Tableland Talk April 2021
Too long is forever
It has been too long without you
There has been too much time
Worlds lie between us
As I pay for my crime
My cell is my world
of four hard walls
Spartan and bare
My memory is my cell forever
I keep seeing you there
As each long
long day passes .....
My sentence every minute
Gives way to darkness
My loss lies within it
When I look through my barred window
I expect in some light
To see you running towards me
Again
my mind at flight
I pace I groan
squat in the corners
Of this tiny space
Close and open my eyes
And still see your face
I see you on the day as lovers we were wed
I see you in the night on the matrimonial bed
I see us on every outing all the things we did
I see us laughing and loving as besotted kids
I see your auburn fringe and wavy locks
I see your long legs above bobby socks
I see your bright blue eyes black long lashes
I see your olive skin the smile that flashes
I feel you in my arms in the softest embrace
I remember all your charms
I feel my disgrace
Where is your world now my love
And is he there with you
No I am not proud my love
If I could bring you back I’d kiss you
A Sleeping Koala
The winding track and where it led
It was the idea I loved. But, first came the words. The words were, “A winding track.” The words became the idea. The idea developed.
The idea of a two wheel dirt track ahead. It winds up a wooded hillside in the golden hour of late afternoon. This romantic winding track, no destination in sight, no point of origin, beckons. It’s mystery entices.
So, I now find myself travelling this track. I’m leaving things behind and I am excited by the unknown destination ahead. I am savouring the journey.
Savouring, now there’s a word! A word to savour. A word begets an idea, begets a reality.
Ah, here is the real joy, the savouring. The pleasure in the journey, the exciting anticipation of getting there. Wherever there may be.
A bike for every occasion?
Sub title: Central Victoria, the Centre for eBikes.
As I have aged (now approaching my mid 60s), I have progressed from road bikes to mountain bikes to hybrids and now, ebikes.
My message to everyone out there who rides or is contemplating riding is “Get on your bike!” If you are fit and able enough to provide your own power, find the bike that best suits your journeying and ride. If you think you are past it, reconsider. From 8 to 80 years old, anyone with balance who can get astride a bike frame now has bicycle touring at their feet!
With the advent of ebikes for all modes of cycling, the Central Victoria region is perfect for you and your bike. There are many kilometres of un-trafficked rural roads and tracks traversing diversely beautiful landscapes. You will be amazed at where an ebike can take you, from sealed flat stretches across the plains, amongst rustic rolling foothills, to tall treed dirt tracks through mountain forests.
Many people have asked me about the different modes of cycling I refer to in the cycling route descriptors I publish. Most often, about Gravel Grinders. Gravel Grinders as a specialty appeared somewhere in amongst my cycling experience. I missed their rise until alerted by a mad keen cycling cousin.
This alert coincided with the commencement of my mapping and publishing of walks and cycling routes in and around the beautiful Strathbogie region. A good port of call for those interested is the Gravel Grinders Melbourne fb page. The article linked below may be American, but is brief and indicative of gravel bike features for the uninitiated, as well as being fodder for dreamers. It is worth noting that one of the bikes listed is an ebike.
apple.news/AJlzTcm5gRhO2EROnKg-VTw
The cycling routes I have been recording will be found here on seanmathews.blog/cycling and the Connecting the Goulburn Broken Catchment Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/591666734808645 .
Walks can be found at strathbogierangesnatureview , VictoriaWalks and in Pozi online mapping
Small Flies and Other Wings
Art in the pink, the hope that it brings Wings painted from, the smallest of things The joy of the colour, the mess of it all A pleasure to view, this artist's call Not quite abstract, the painting surreal Based in fact, then allowed to congeal Into pastel riot, of colour and lines Into a many makes whole, artwork refined What underlies, there's tissue paper petals The subject mixed up, then left to settle What was the intent, forethought soft light To please the eye, or just to feel right So busy so active, yet here is still life Outlines overshot, not cut like a knife In the blur there is movement, on a canvas full But the subject is lifeless, the message - killed When you look deeper, what do you see Something different to me, most certainly I see part of you, I see part of me I see a gift, a sadness, in humanity Did this idea form, in the artist's mind Develop and grow, the mind to bind An irresistible force, the desire to create A bane and pleasure, that will never wait
This poem is a response to a dVerse ~ Poets Pub challenge
Haiku: Picture this
Picture this namely The world at your feet plainly Walk its paths gamely
Being Human
This being human is brutal
Where survival remains primal
Where savagery can be ruthless
Where being human is animal
This being human is joyful
Where sharing is a pleasure
Where smiles reflect happiness
Where being human rises above
This being human is indulgent
Where affluence is wasted
Where consumption is recreational
Where being human is an economic unit
This being human is religious
Where unknowns engender hope
Where faith equates with confidence
Where being human could be spiritual
This being human is political
Where a few choices matter
Where many choices don’t
Where being human is good and evil
This being human is being creative
Where knowledge grows exponentially
Where caution is thrown to the wind
Where being human is a contradiction
This being human is arrogant
Where entitlement reigns
Where extinctions surprise no one
Where being human is collective stupidity
This being human is ridiculous
Where universes are vast
Where consciousness is nebulous
Where being human is being alone
This being human is scary
Where thoughts beget actions
Where actions beget unanticipated consequences
Where being human is in itself an existential risk
To add another dimension to your experience of poetry, I recommend you also engage with the international community of fellow poets at d’verse virtual pub poetry challenges
The green cane chair
I sit on my green cane chair The best chair for thinking It is outside It has the advantage of being in a good place A verandah from which there is much to see Even if the weather is cold it is in the right position because the wind slides past laterally In this chair you can avoid confronting winds of change You can sit here for a long time confident you won’t have to move or make way for someone or something You can watch all sorts of things unfold from this chair Insects birds animals people the day the night the light Seasons pass you by I unfold from this chair This is a sitting for thinking chair It gives access to great scope for thought A matching cane table stands by this chair It is for all the paraphernalia I choose to utilise for observation and thinking for research recording and writing Endless cups of tea Vegemite and salad rolls Fruit nuts stacks of books Pens paper Camera iPad and phone Background noises surrounding this chair are soothing Creek water tumbling over rocks An irregular breeze wafting at leaves Morning song birdsong evensong Another nice sound I often hear from this chair is children playing Always happy to be outside In cooler months running along the bush track In summer swimming in the waterhole by the bridge or excitedly calling to each other as they splash about amongst the cascades You need to wear a brimmed hat sitting in this chair regardless of the season This is to shade your eyes from the northerly and westering sun To balance the glare against the shadows on the surface you are working on This chair has soft cushions for the seat and for the back They rest against its structure of bent cane It is a very good fit You can sit for a long time before needing to move However, the arms of this chair are narrow They may confine you to a limited range of positions This has the advantage of forcing movement This state of affairs is conducive to constructive thinking by prompting physical activity around the house along the verandah in the garden along the creek Such activity can be necessary to continue to be effective A mental activity reset New approaches come with a reset Quite often they are so new you get a pleasant surprise This is because you didn’t know they were there within you beforehand Another way to reset is change the scene move this chair to the edge of the verandah or reorientate A different outlook New space New thinking You have to remember to take the cushions in every evening to stop them getting damp They get tired and worn They are due for a new skin Just like me This chair is exposed to the elements One day it won’t be there I wonder will another chair be so generous?
