A couple of contributions from Bill Guy on the theme of 'Shopping' from the last session of the Aldinga group:




SHOPPING, ANCIENT AND MODERN

Once were hunter-gatherers,
Sliding through the bush with spear,
Stalking prey in cautious silence,
Taking aim while quelling fear.

Now we’re merely tame consumers,
Trundling down the aisles with trolley,
Snatching pre-packed meat or fish,
Scooping sprouts to go with cauli.

Once were eagle-eyed, fleet-footed,
Risking danger at every stride,
Leaping, striking for the kill,
Bringing back the food with pride.

Now flat-footed and dull-eyed,
Waiting in line at check-out till,
Wishing there was more to life,
Whingeing when we get the bill.

Once were campfire cooks and diners,
Eating what was caught that day,
Drifting towards a peaceful night,
Finding joy in work and play.

Now we are convenience cooks,
Plucking meals from microwave,
Thinking with self-deceptive grin,
‘This sure beats living in a cave.’



THEN AND NOW


They did heroic things together,
defying all the odds;
went mountain climbing, kayaking,
smiled on by the gods.

Adventure days are now long past,
distant lands are off their map;
the local shopping centre
has become their tourist trap.

Still they have their memories,
still together, they explore,
though now it’s for exotic foods
at their super gourmet store


Bill Guy, Adelaide, July 2009

Fickle Word

Did happenstance just make me wait
By Cupid’s partly open gate?
Wherein I spied a comely maid,
As upon loves harp she sweetly played

A touching tune with words divine
That at once I vowed she would be mine.
She glanced at me with eyes demure
And a smile that said ‘be mine monsieur’.

With joyful step I strolled away,
Planning on another game to play.
Then crafty time came swirling by
And she looked at me with saddened eye.

In my garret cold I now pine away
That happenstance destroyed my day
And left me a sad but wiser swain,
To not trust that fickle word again.

Happenstance Humour

Does happenstance come by each day,
when someone says, ‘oh by the way’?
Is happenstance a state of mind,
That happens to put you in a bind?

Does happenstance crop up too much
When someone says, ‘oh such and such’?
Then happenstance will have a slap
At some other unsuspecting chap.

Does happenstance control the flow,
So no poor sod can have a go?
But happenstance will loose control
When some smart alec is on a roll.

Does happenstance make your day go bad,
So everyone will say, ‘oh dear me, how sad’?
Then happenstance will have had its way
To collar us on this happenstance day.

So now you see what I‘ve been at,
Putting happenstance in to bat,
So we can all bowl true and straight
And smash happenstance right out the gate.

What fun to watch its slow demise,
So that we can now with ease surmise,
What the world it would be like
When happenstance must take a hike

And disappears o’er yonder hill,
Because it had to take a pill
And leave us here the better off
So that we don’t have to snout the trough

And find a way to cast a line
On words of rhyming now to dine,
Why make such a hullaballo
About happenstance’s bally hoo.

This verseing thing gives me such a pain
Trying to rhyme these silly lines again
So I’m off to try out something new
And leave happenstance to each of you.

I surrender to the trial of it
And bury happenstance in the pit,
Of rubbish verse or doggerel stuff
And I will disappear like a magic puff

Of clearing wind from out the blue
That’s scattered happenstance for all of you.
So good bye from it and me. I say
It’s been a happenstance sort of day.

No more we’ll hear this nasty word
I hope you have all been truly cured
From using it to make a verse
Cause trying it is such a curse

To finally put the thing away
And let the others have their say
On what it’s really all about,
Giving happenstance some real clout

This stanza is the last from me,
I done my best you can surely see
I’ve laid to rest the beast that true,
So now the afternoon is up to you.

In Shakespeare's keep

Happenstance is but a silly, random word that
To William Shakespeare might have occurred
For inclusion within his comedies designed.
Though folk today are less inclined
To let it easily roll off the tongue
In any conversation just recently begun.
Now methinks that Wordsworth nare abused
And Coleridge would have been less than amused
To use it plainly, so to speak, in what e’r they wrote
Or said in speech to others of their kind,
Over mussels or juicy steak and claret when they dined.
But hear me out I beg you do, this word will have me
Harras you, until we gently lay it down to sleep,
So it may stay forever in William Shakespeare’s keep.

Glorious Happenstance

The atonal vortex of a long darkness
is breathing the pulse of a beginning
that will make making a pleasure of
force and a light to be reckoned upon.

Teeming against itself that pulse
Rubs all its energy towards a
construction of richness, which will
blast small pieces into a new self.

Deeper dark than the dark of the grave
is the darkness before that pinprick of
light begins the unstoppable growth
foredoomed to become darkness again.

In one split second of rich confusion the
whole new conflagration took place
before time could alter or contain the
outcome of its own glorious happenstance.