April 24, VIRUS 2020
Entertainment – The Virus TV Show. 9Entertainment. Upcoming TV Show Times. Fri 24 April 7:44-8:00pm. Australian TV Guide www.yourtv.com.au
Charges and cautions for domestic violence rise by 24% in London. Guardian
“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? “So it’d be interesting to check that.” Pointing to his head, Mr Trump went on: “I’m not a doctor. But I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.” BBC [1]
Virus inspired ancient poetry. [2]
What light there is
let’s hear it sing
eternity won’t wait.
Night oystercatchers, softly hooting,
the point of black light, soft slow walking
I respect what they do.
People go thousands of miles and spends thousands of dollars to see the northern lights, aurora borealis or aurora australis, Eos is rarely green, rarely dancing but she is magnificence, an arc of tufted midnight blue, luminous serif sheaths, cardinal vestments, ribbons of ochre, gilded ephemera sliding away, rearranging the furniture of the gods, shelving nighttime.
I take a piss behind the toppled Banksia again,
this time the Little Wattlebird is awake, barks immediately
jumps out of the shadows closer to see what is going on.
There’s no-one else about. I think of when huskies, bred from
generations down in Antarctica, were being relocated to northern
USA. On being released they immediately headed for a tree.
The rough flicker of wings behind is a physical sound, reassuring.
Fish are jumping, I catch the Osprey late with my machine.
A Little Black Cormorant appears on the mustard river,
coughs twice steps up onto the bank and stretches obedient wings
that look so big, they look like they could borrowed from a vampire.
He jumps back into an angle of light, ducking his head,
gifting a curtain of silver hanging from his black chin.
The river curves round to leave, almost 360, water
is a contortionist and accepts everything, the sky leans back.
The curves seduce me every time with their eloquence.
A darter in the rough among the rocks, balances a fish
on its nose. A Pied Cormorant passed a Little Black Cormorant
flying the other way, they don’t acknowledge each other.|
Old Man’s Hat features often, a rough Mont St Michelle
without the size, the inheritance of stonework, hymns
incense, confessions, but with a lagoon, pointillist expression
of colour, and with the solitude at this hour sought
by so many religious enthusiasts. In the past, crises
have stirred religious resolve, stung a recourse
to spiritual gurus and ritual. It seems different this time.
Is anyone keeping a spiritual journal?
How much is this worth, not the ocean, the sky,
the beach and forest lipping, the birds,
the toadfish I haven’t noticed here before
– but this solitude? Sunlight skims across the ocean,
gold threads the tightknit forest.
~
Driving with Monterverdi on the radio (the CD jammed)
the sky opening up my heart, ribs breathing, widening
in happiness, a very different energy to a thumping bass
(which I enjoy too).
~
I order duck beast for mains and profiteroles for desert
and pay RAR online for this feast, imaginary in the circumstance
~
Slow food, so why not slow driving? The old highway is now Giinagay Way and with less traffic I travel into town at half speed (50). You can see the trees for the wood. I linger on the golden Senna (Cassia) now in peak flower, a vicious weed, notice more rubbish, read the names on the crosses, and hear the birds with the windows down. Slowing also helps reduce global warming.
Cutting motorway speed limits from 120 to 110 km/h could deliver fuel savings by up to 18 %.[3] Dutch researchers say lowering the speed limit to 80 km/h (50 mph) would cut transportation-related CO2 emissions by 30 percent. [4]
I keep an eye on the rear-view mirror on a two-lane road my speed is dangerous. But slower is safer. I have to return a hard drive to my PC guru who lives beside a sculpture I like.
~
Wyn spots the Frogmouth back in the rainforest garden.
I sneak onto the deck opposite, it opens a wine-red eye,
bobs briefly to check distance, then closes up resuming statues.
~
We sit on the deck facing the closing forest, with a drink and binoculars.
High in the canopy a couple of Rainbow Lorikeets screech out a medley,
a pair of Noisy Friarbirds join in, a Lewin’s Honeyeater chuckles, bouncing
around the shrubs below. We catch a male Satin Bowerbird jumping into
the bird bath and flapping the water out, a beautiful blue-black sheen
and scary violet eyes. I grab the camera, peer over and it flees.
Later, we check on the Frogmoth as dusk falls, there’s movement. The bird starts preening, getting ready for the hunt.
I look up the Monteverdi I didn’t recognise. It’s his Zefiro torna, e di soavi accenti. I download a different recording. It doesn’t sound as airy, light and blessed.
~
It’s my parent’s wedding anniversary (60 years they made). I ring my mother. She still misses him a little. Now she’s worried she will never see me again. I said, mum, you’ve been saying that for the last 20 years. She laughs.
I get her to tell me a story from her happy period, before marriage and kids.
Hitchhiking on VE day back from a family party at St Helens. Had to get back to work in the hospital. There was another time, she and two other nurses studying midwifery at Redhill packed a lunch and hitchhiked to Brighton. They got dropped off on the downs and walked about had their lunch.It was a lovely day. They hitchhiked back and the man stopped at a flower stall and bought them each a small posy of red flowers. She is stuck for their name. We end by laughing.
I put on a Necks Cd from the box-set I got off Santa. The music starts repeating, I am writing so don’t notice at first, and it is the Necks. I worry it’s the Denon CD player, 25 years old and still going strong, or was.
[1] Coronavirus: Outcry after Trump suggests injecting disinfectant as treatment https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52407177
[2] Nature 24 April. https://www.nature.com/articles/news030421-3
[3] https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/transport/speed-limits-fuel-consumption-and/speed-limits.
[4] Slow Down and Spare the Plane, https://www.wired.com/2010/06/50-mph-speed-limit-curb-emissions/
