Splashy Fen 2010

Well tomorrow I am off to Spalshy Fen 2010 (the fairly famous South African music festival). And this must be about the 7th or 8th year I will be attending (one can't be sure, they all seem to blur into one) and I can not wait! I am so excited to slip into my old trusty gum boots, whip on a scarf, grab a bottle of old brown and head off to the mountains with the hippies. Oh the yearning I have to join the hippies in the dirty grass :)  And only once a year, in the easter cold berg, I get to fulfill that longing. Leaving behind work, stress, and boring daily life and replacing it with the serene beauty of nature, friendly faces, love, laughter and music. I live for Splashy! I swear in a past life I was a long haired, hairy-legged, tree hugging, peace sign waving, rainbow child, hippie! So for the next 4 days and nights I will be in the mountains, sleeping an a tent, in freezing conditions, skipping in mud in my gum boots, waking up to the clearest blue skies in the morning and the darkest star scattered skies at night, breathing in the freshest air, walking hand in hand with the man I love at my side and the warm sun on my skin, drinking out of pure necessity to stay warm in the nights and simply for fun in the days, swimming in rivers and lounging on tufts of grass in the day, listening to music from rock and jazz to bongos and tambourines, eating the tastiest food from tiny little trailers served by bearded, tie-died old hippie men and barefooted, smiling hippie women, doing nothing except soaking in the sun, the earth, the forest, the music and the freedom of it all. Sigh...Bliss. So peace out my fellow tree huggers, I am off to open my eyes :) G (the hippie version) 

http://www.splashyfen.co.za/

Inspiration For Today.

The Invitation - Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. 

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Inspiring.

This Burning - William Taylor Jr.

A nameless afternoon

in a small San Francisco

apartment

I strive for poetry

and produce only words

I pace the room

and through the windows I watch

the sad little whores

and their pimps

cracked out ghosts

sitting in shadowed doorways

hiding from the sun

I turn away and

a yellowed death notice clipped from a newspaper

years ago

falls from the pages

of a slim volume of poems

an old jazz man plays through my dirty little speakers

erasing the lines between life and death

nightmares and dreams

and this burning in my chest

this acute desire

is not for death

only for something other 

than what is here.

All We've Simply Thrown Away - William Taylor Jr.

Outside it's just

screams and sirens

and people waiting to be paid

inside we peel paint 

from the walls in flakes

as if there might be some new 

magic underneath

the wine does what it can

but this sadness in our blood

is older than time

our damage shines best

in these smallest hours

and this is the beauty I want to remember

it suddenly strikes me 

so many lives could be made

from all we've simply

thrown away

as we cross our hearts and make a pact

to stay beautiful until dawn

when the sun will come and

burn us off like fog.

Good morning sunshine!

Bansky Art - http://www.banksy.co.uk/

Oh the joys of Monday! Everyone seems to be singing, smiling and dancing around like some sick Mary Poppins movie...I could barley drag my lifeless body out of bed this morning to arrive at work on time. And to be honest the dam sunshine stung my eyes!

Its amazing how you get morning people and people who are just not cut out for the whole wake up and shine kind of vibe. Frankly, I don't think I am even a day person never mind morning! But I do wish I could be that sunshine person who bounces out of bed and greets the day with exuberance and grace and doesn't think of a string of profanities when woken by joyous laughter...but if I am honest, if I don't get tea in my belly immediately someone will die. And it wont be pretty. Thats just the reality. Happy Monday Sunshine Clan, I do envy your smile and that little bounce in your step but for now please stay out of my way...it's for your own safety :) G

The Thin Line

There is a thin line between you and me.
Ever so fine and faint I barely realize it's there.
A silent void separating two souls that belong as one.
I feel it draining me, consuming me drop by drop.
Stealing all my dreams and desires, like a thief in the night.
Slowly one by one I become less and you become more.
I feel helpless as I weaken and you grow stronger.
Everything that is pure and beautiful has been bled from me.
I become a hollow shell of my former self.
More like you and less like me.
I am less.

G ©

Welcome To All

Well finally I am here. I have been threatening to do this for ages, always having something to say, but not really knowing if it's worth listening to. Or more importantly, who in their sane mind would listen to my incessant ramblings! A lot of people are forced to listen, as I bend their ears on a daily basis, but alas, this is not by choice, they are forced to by love. Shame, poor buggers. But now after long last I have a new captive audience! (even if for now it is just this computer screen). So hi, my name is G and I am a graphic designer in South Africa. I enjoy anything that gets the creative juices flowing and art is my emotional outlet. I am know to dabble in poetry, painting, drawing and writing, anything that allows me to express myself freely. This blog is my new canvas. Clean and white. Just a warning, I don't claim to be brilliant or profound or genius but I do enjoy what I do and I do think I have an awful lot to say for one little person, so I hope I can inspire, motivate, awaken or even amuse you. Feel free to inspire, motivate, awaken and amuse me too. So please comment freely :) G