Friday 19 August 2011

do not disturb ~ fantasy in progress

when i was a kid i went to school with a girl by the name of katie rabineau, we weren't close friends but we were friendly and coincidentally my brother mis-spent his youth with her brother chris. one of my favourite memories is of lorin and chris showing up at my hospital bed to see me after liam was born and commenting on his enormous red newborn balls.
yeah well, anyway katie looked exactly like her mum but her mum wasnt in school uniform as we were, she had long long blonde plaits and wore long multicoloured dresses. katies dad had a scruffy beard and the front yard of their house was a bit of a jungle. my mind boggled when katie said that when they got too much stuff to fit in the house they built more rooms on.
i was a little awed and a little fascinated by this exceptionally bohemian seeming set-up in middle class bardwell park. i didn't understand it but i was drawn to it in an odd way and over the years i have continued to be a little bit awed and a little bit impressed by any variety of bohemia but i wasn't one of them so i went on with my average life and somewhere in the intervening years i unwittingly created my own little bohemia right here with overgrown front yard jungle and my pseudo artistic writerly pursuits, then there's the child who refuses to comb his hair. i regard that as eccentric. and there's the child who dyes his hair purple and produced artworks of merit from early childhood. then there's the one who wore the helicopter hat to the shops. obviously there has to be someone conventional in that mad lot and there is. she rolls her eyes and tell us not to be embarrassing.
well last night i was sitting up late, because artistes dont keep regular hours, tapping away on my keyboard, fuelled by my latest brainstorm of writing a memoir. mr purple hair was sitting there with me, composing. composing! my child writing music, not rock music either but music inspired by mozart ("what was his first name?" he asks me "wolfgang" "oh yeah, wolfgang, what a cool name, i'm totally calling my child wolfgang")
yeah so anyway, some day someone will come along and expose me as an imposter in bohemia but until they do i'm staying right here cocooned in my very own soft core version.

14 comments:

  1. Love it. You are a creator and a nurturer of bohemians. Quite an achievement.

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  2. yes all that is called creativity and you and your kidxs seem to have ample to go around<><><>don't lose any of it ok?????

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  3. In one sense, I guess you could say that every person after the first person who becomes a beatnik, a hippie, a punker, etc. is an imitator. Impostor is a bit harsh, though, is it not? As the saying goes, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"--or something like that.

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  4. hi EC and thanks!

    putzy, now that i know it's there it aint goin nowhere :)

    snow, yes we are all imitators but whats funny here is that i dared not try to imitate but somehow it happened anyway

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  5. I think I'm a bit like you, I like a few bohemians around to inspire me with their creativity and innovation and lack of inhibition, but at the same time I like a bit of familiar routine and predictability to feel comfortable. Glad you're encouraging your kids' bohemian tendencies - but not excessively.

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  6. To be a real bohemian you have got to be Czech.

    My idea of the bohemian is typified by many who make up the Australian painter, sculpture and "graphic" community.

    They wear berets badly and can't shave. Are they too lazy fellow rednecks?

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  7. Hmm well if normal's boring you're far from it. I think we get worse with age. I'm a tidy freak but rather unconventional these days. I still think you should flex those bohemian muscles and come and have a crack at The Tenth Daughter of Memory. It's challenging but oh so rewarding. Right, my normal life beckons and I have a tea coloured pool to clean. UGH, perhaps Ill leave it for the ducks.

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  8. For a fantasy, this post paints a very real picture.

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  9. Definition of bohemia:
    1) historical kingdom in Czech republic.
    2) group of artists and writers with real or pretended artistic or intellectual aspirations and usually an unconventional lifestyle.

    Apart from the hilarious "real or pretended" section, and no I am not joking about this it actually mentions this in the definition, here is my question:

    Who gets to define artistic, writers, and unconventional ?

    Don't we all fit into those categories in some way?

    I must be off now to check on Seek what qualifications I need to perform these judgements on society..

    That is when I stop rolling around the floor laughing..

    I want that job!

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  10. Soft core bohemianism. I like it.

    And thanks for stopping by my blog and for your purchase of my book, Whispers.

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  11. I see we have several common friends.

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  12. Hi, Kylie, just thought I would drop by and see if you had any new posts up.

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  13. nick,
    heaven forbid you lose a cardi in the chaos :)

    baino,
    i'll have a quick squizz at 10th DOM but dont be holding your breath!


    megan,
    i'm a try-hard but i'll milk it for what i can :)


    fee,
    i think the sickest individuals are the ones who think they are the deciders on "normal" :)

    travis,
    thanks for dropping by!


    snow,
    nup, no new posts. one can seem amazingly wise if one keeps quiet so i'm trying that on for size :)

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