“We wish to thank the AER Foundation’s Small Grants Program for its support and commitment to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in Australia”
She’s not here now – the woman who chose to be my mother She turned my life inside out. I let her into my heart I loved her unconditionally With the complete honesty of a child But when I opened my heart to her Instead of loving me She reached in and ripped it out [...]
“Miracles have their roots in tragedy” I believe it With all my heart And soul Not with a passion borne of desperation But with the passion borne of experience! I’ve had tragedy in my life Like anyone these days Just watch the news There is tragedy in every sentence Every word That is written And [...]
I became her adversary I thought I was still her daughter and tried to love her even without my heart but her morals and values were difficult to embrace she hated everyone unless they were wealthy or powerful I wasn’t So I wasn’t worthy of anything from her Apart from her disgust So, along with other ignobles we were humiliated, [...]
My hands look so innocent Gentle hands, with lined palms Worker’s hands Lover’s hands Carer’s hands Kind and loving to my children But they have hurt Caused suffering These hands of mine I like my hands They look like good hands to me But only I know their history Their true identity The things they have done Only I know the pain [...]
There’s something inside me at last For a long time there was nothing I gaze at the reflection of my baby’s mother in the mirror She raises her glass, drinks and turns away Pragmatism wins over introspection Her glass is empty She already loves her baby more than she has ever loved herself – but will that be [...]
The ocean promises To wash away the pain Vowing to free me From wild thoughts Which pound in my head In time to the crashing waves Abrading my senses Scraping away reason Leaving only the raw and painful Feelings which have survived Resisting mutiny Until today
In the seventies I remember seeing a photograph of a mother Holding her daughter - In a town called Minamata in Japan Where mercury had been dumped into the water And this little girl had been born With birth defects so severe That they paralysed me for a moment But her mother’s face shone with the type of love [...]
My little dog Who has spent her whole life loving us Is dying Her heart which has loved so freely For so long Is weakening At least I know she is not dying From a broken heart No little ‘Chinowna’ Has ever been loved more She is dying from a life Well lived Very few [...]
When you asked me to play football with you that day My life was brightened By the glow in your eyes The epiphany I had of my role in your life Etched itself into the Darkened reaches of my mind We played for more than just fun that day You were the man of the [...]
Loneliness so deep only a child Could bear it Some made Some given All hurting Calcified caring causing endless fear Of being nothing worthwhile Finding fearful empathy With a solitary flower Or walking hand-in-hand With memories grasping for purchase On the tight-wire of my heart Memories which seldom stay remembered – A surfeit of sorrow