Over the last few weeks I have been experiencing (as a concerned onlooker) the wonderful public health system in Australia. What I have taken away from this is the determination to hang on to my private health cover no matter what. First – how to find the patient in the public health system. Shouldn’t be…
Mother Spider
Mother Spider makes a plan And sets to work as best she can She weaves her strands of cruelty tight And coats them with affection bright The tallest tales adorn her nest All underpinned with malice best A fine veneer of fair deceit This faked accord is quite a feat This web’s a work of…
Review “The Door into Summer” by Robert Heinlein
This is a relatively early work for Heinlein, having first been published in 1957. More famous works such as “Stranger in a Strange Land” are still ahead of him. As such, this book, while quite good, is not great. The story concerns protagonist Dan Davis, an inventor who is cheated out of his life’s work,…
Heat
Mercury’s climbing. Still a phrase, though No mercury in thermometers anymore Up up up It hits you like a wall Wraps around and smothers You push through the thick, soupy heat Leaching moisture from your body Energy from your limbs Head pounds in protest Body sweats out its life Hottest day on record, they say…
How not to cry
Okay, now hold it together You’re overreacting, can’t you see? You feel hurt, embarrassed, angry But that’s no cause for tears Is it? Clench your fists, hard Feel those nails dig in to your palm That’s it, that’ll stop the flow Before it starts No one needs to know How they’ve hurt you …
Review “The Giver” by Lois Lowry
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. – Benjamin Franklin “The Giver” is a book full of questions. It sets up a situation that demands questions, and thought. The author expertly builds the situation slowly, so little by little more is revealed about the…
Wonder in the words
When I was small Letters became words became sentences became Magic, and mystery, and far away wondrous places A strange cat in a very tall hat Taught some lonely children how to have fun But I don’t think I’d ever have eaten Green eggs and ham Discovering poetry in the Hundred Acre Wood…
Review “Roadside Picnic” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Written in 1972, this book tells the interesting story of an alien first contact. The aliens in question have long since gone, but they left behind ‘zones’, areas containing many alien artifacts as well as strange (and dangerous) phenomena. Initially the zones are open for anyone to go in, but after people get killed the…
The young at heart
I’m too old, he said Love’s a game for the young I’m too set in my ways Who’d have me now? Maybe once, she said A long time ago But now? What do I have that anyone would want? They circled in a stately dance Drawing ever nearer They opened doors and drew…
Review “A Dangerous Method”
Made in 2011, this film was directed by David Cronenberg and purports to tell about the relationship and ultimate rift between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. It also reports the relationship and affair between Jung and Sabina Spielrein, a patient who eventually becomes a psychiatrist herself. Cronenberg is an excellent director, but I feel he…
Eclectic Assemblage 