“We wish to thank the AER Foundation’s Small Grants Program for its support and commitment to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in Australia”
Lives, like speeding cars, rushing past, Everything I love, falling away, Like scenery through the window Into a chasm of half remembered dreams So much loss! To be a hero Just one chance to prove I was worthwhile But it rushed past too quickly to be seized And it became a taunt haunting me forever To survive, living, caring, working [...]
Your hand in mine Makes me feel whole Encourages me To continue Just a little longer – Until the next time You hold me
Somewhere In the thorny morass Of my troubled childhood the proboscis of creativity was inserted only half way into my brain by a loving God bestowing on me an incomplete talent For the arts – The fundamental need to be creative Mixed with an inadequate aptitude Or an adequate ineptitude For creating works of art That others find Irresistible, compelling and [...]
I stare at the words That have stolen My son’s future I want to forget The damage I have caused But he lives with me Every day is an aching reminder Of my culpability I kiss and hug him And snuggle him close to my heart Breathing in The sweet smell Of his little boy’s [...]
Even though the sand was littered with pumice stone And the waves too small and sparse for the serious wave riders to aggravate you still strode purposefully out across the sand The surfboard you held under one arm was almost bigger than you were Perhaps to you the waves were like an adversary, Something to be conquered – A [...]
I watched you yesterday Helping the kids Shape their surfboards Your eyes sparkled With their requited love Your hands were Sheathed in dust I remember speculating About those hands When I first met you Trying to decide Whether they were Good hands Or not If they would bring me Pleasure or pain They proved to be loving Dependable hands The hands of a hero Hands [...]
“What a lovely photograph”, I say “Oh! she’s at University studying medicine?” “Wow – and this one’s got a job that pays how well?” “You must be very proud”, I say And my son? “Yes he’s doing well” – and back away from that parlay Not from shame for my boy but from grief for [...]
The child’s eyes reflect the firelight, Liquid eyes mirror the dancing flames. She stares trancelike no longer thinking. The windows of her soul closed By the very act of seeing She parries against thoughts which are drifting Inexorably towards the door in her mind Craving to be let out, dusted off – Inspected She reaches out for the flame, Holding [...]
A tear slowly slides down a small cheek Pauses for a moment Then, urged from behind continues its journey The child shuffles her feet as a tear Falls softly to the ground The face on which it has traveled Remains calm – eyes bright, pleading Willing the onlooker to care But no one does [...]
They fight and play, exhuming fun from the back yard. Finding in one mouth something that would have been better off left alone to die naturally. ‘Time for rest’ I say. They run away. I stalk them ….smiling. They like this game. Surrounding me – I can almost hear them chuckling. They lie in [...]