it doesn’t matter how it was done
what matters is how we do it now.

so many perspectives now of how we view the world –
from the air we look down onto countries cities streets homes oceans rivers valleys.
we can zoom in for detail – count the dots on a butterflies wing or out for long views of lava spilling over mountain sides.
from the ocean we look back towards land – the curve of a coastline –
shapes folds harbours river mouths and hills.
and space shows a spinning blue orb .
our capacity to see our world keeps changing
and so too our view of our Selves.

What can we learn from this ability ?
that there is always another angle another glimpse another possibility.
no matter how we peer into the minutiae we cannot ever see the entirety,
no matter the video cam on the spotted owl or the tracker on the koala there will always be more we do not know than what we think we know.
some call this The Mystery.

How are you doing with this covid dance a la 2020?
protests pop up in places
masks mandatory or not
tests and statistics define our mornings
harried health professionals frowning
conspiracies too numerous to elaborate on
everyone has an opinion.

is it a wake up call?
an alarm?
a death sentence?
is it a hollywood movie and we actors with the script already written?

Spring equinox :
dear friends visit and the young king turns ten.
the family gathers to wander the damp trails of a wetland, stop for a picnic and kick a ball .Ten years old he grows lean and and tall, keenly interested in nature . The next generation of grandbabies are all girls- squealing laughing playing hard.

The season is warm and rain has been friendlier.
The forest a sea of dead black trees with life burgeoning up trunks and on limbs of some.
I can still see through it-  the far hills of the valley plainly visible, so too the cows in the neighbouring paddocks – all this was once obscured by a rich understory.
The casurinas and bush cherry start their growth cycle from the beginning.
I understand that I will be compost before I see them again in their full glory.

Whales play along the coastline
unaware of masks and restrictions on land
mindful of plastics hooks lines and sounds that shatter their sense of direction.

Drones take over the skies
spying out newsworthy stories
owning our privacy,
everyone needs to know
social media determines the value.

In this neck of the universe we hug
cry and hold each other,
united in our grief for all that we have lost
bonded in our gratitude for what we still have-
companionship generosity and loving-kindness.

My friend picks up a vacuum cleaner from the relief centre
a donation
her house home beautiful garden is gone
her ancestor’s keepsakes photographs and kitchen utensils.
remarkably she is cheerful and pragmatic,
with her husband they are building again
slowly.

The bushfire inquiries release their findings
burn burn burn,
more burning they say
not less, not never again.
as if this will help
as if this force of nature can be deployed in this manner and we not get burnt
as if any of the forces of nature – air water earth coal uranium can be contained and not come back to bite us.

What message this equinox my friends?
What can we glean from the bones of fires death and virus?
What do all these things have in common?

Now there’s a thread to follow – like Alice down the rabbit hole
into the hallucinogenic world of talking caterpillars smoking pipes –
we can be big and we can be small.

I have taken up visible mending – worn to be seen -to be noticed
a stitch in time they say,
this is the time for that seed to be ignited –
weaving our beauty love compassion strength integrity
into tomorrow – starting today-
this equinox when light balances dark
we can mend something
a hole in a sock, a loss in our neighbourhood,
a friendship, a garden,a path,a fence,a picture,
we are menders fixers creators visionaries.
lets not wait for tomorrow
mend something today.

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