Sky Writing

Australia is now in the middle of voting on same sex marriage. We have a month or thereabouts to vote in a farcical and non-binding survey, answering the question "Should the law be changed to allow same sex marriage?"

Skies above central Sydney were assaulted by sky writing yesterday and the message "Vote No" was quickly pilloried all over social media.

Today it was revealed that the sky writing campaign was crowd funded but the crowd funding company refuses to release the funds, leaving the "no" campaign in an embarrassing pickle.

I am a yes voter but I uphold the right of the "no" people to write it anywhere they legally can. I don't care if all of Australia is covered in propaganda for the no side. The crude censorship the "no" side are facing is small minded, undemocratic and pathetic. It's the thin end of a fascist wedge.

Tanka

Five months into my church's amalgamation with three others, people are still hurting, resistant and critical. Our ministers' growing desperation was evident in today's sermon (based on Joshua 1) as the speaker pleaded with us to move forward. She ended the service with a call for those who were committed to strength and courage for the future to stand. About four people stood and one of those is developmentally disabled.
My oldest, Liam, wants to encourage people in creative expression and had prepared a short talk outlining his vision for a writing workshop. He invited everyone to join him for a quick information session after the service and I was his only taker.

I decided to write a poem in the style of the Japanese tanka, a kind of tribute to the leaders, appointed or self styled, whose hearts must be slowly breaking.



Get ready, prepare.
Tough challenge, large reward. Advance
Inhabit the land.
Promised estate, rich birth right.
Be strong and brave. Fear not.

Adaptation

Harry has been here for almost six months now. When he came here he was terrified of the grass. He quickly learned to walk on it but it was only this week that he first got brave enough to lie down on it for a little sleeping and sunbaking.
The other first this week was a trip to the river, which he loved more than our retriever ever did. He came out of the water smiling and tail wagging but pouring blood out of some deep oyster cuts.
As the pain set in he became very quiet and didn't get up for most of the next day but then (our) dinner time came and he hauled himself off his bed to make sure we were ok.
Hopefully you can see that he bravely found a way to check on our food safety and keep the weight off his poor injured footsies!