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While I am blogging-- the last time before nearly three weeks holiday in Mexico, I thought that as well as the 'altiplano' photos further below, that I would also post a new poem as its been a while. It is not actually 'new' but one of the few remaining ones from my last Winter's backlog.
It is about the transience of life and specifically about, and dedicated to, the memory of my parents who both died over a decade ago. They were lovely gentle people.
72. PASSING THROUGH
Once my own sun warmed YOUR skin
And you witnessed the ‘old times’ begin;
You perceived, and believed in your passions then strong.
Once you felt the Winter chill,
Experienced that first-date thrill;
Once naïve, later conceived, -- before I came along.
Now you are only just a spoken name –
With no substance, back from whence you came;
You achieved, and you grieved,-- and now you are gone.
You had your worries, joys and hope;
Struggles with which you had to cope:
You flourished, and nourished the next in your line.
Now only cared about - by your successors,
Remembered by few, and those getting lesser:
You cherished, then perished: -- part of Nature’s design.
Experiences your eyes had seen,
Might as well have never been,
But you are part of my heart, in which is your shrine.
Just fading memories in old fading brains,
Of times that cannot return again:
Diminishing, and finishing a period ‘on loan’.
Photographs with smiling faces
Are your last remaining traces:
To others who discover, they ’ll mean nothing and be thrown.
Your memory I hold dear, above any other,
Kind devoted father, sweet and caring mother;
So sad your glory and story will soon be unknown.
(This is dedicated to the memories of Bernard E.E.Cannon and Reneé A.Cannon (née Titley.)
© Barrie Cannon. Mon. 17th March 2008.
03:40 - 19 November 2008 - {2} -
Yes, its back to Peru, folks. I was there way back in April but still have a few more good photos to lay upon you. Here are some of the high plateau, known as the 'Altiplano'. It is around 16,000ft above sea level ( nearly 5000 metres). The views are fantastic; huge empty expanses, and because it is so high, the lovely white fluffy clouds are just above your head. Lots of llamas roam around and there are a lot of shallow swampy lakes. The photo of a green rock is actually covered by a very hardy kind of lichen. It is tiny green flowers, but too hard to damage. The lone volcano is 'Misti' near Arequipa which erupts every 250 years so this town is sitting near catastrophe. The ancient burial towers are pre-Inca.
I am off to MEXICO in two days so will take many photos there, so I must finish with Peru first. I will post pics. of Lake Titicaca next, then Machu Picchu. Lots of goodies to come.
Altiplano - the highest point
'Misti' a dormant (but live) volcano near Arequipa
A walled farm, typical of farms here, all walled and similar.
Pre-Inca burial towers. -nothing else known.
03:17 - 19 November 2008 - {2} -
I thought I would re-post this old poem of mine for two reasons:
Firstly, it follows on nicely from my previous posting about Barleylands steam fair, and --
Secondly, I now have the perfect photo to go with it .
41 BACK TO THE EARTH
Here you lie forgotten and forlorn:
Tall grass surrounds you
And brambles grow between your massive wheels.
A mighty leviathan, once so proudly born
Slowly rusts in the corner of a quiet and remote field.
Created from the earth with clamour and fire;
This is how you began.
Once a symbol of progress and empire,
Forged by the calloused hands of man.
You who mocked the noble horse,
Unrivalled for centuries:
With your strength, your noise your power.
Once you were wondered at, desired and envied
Once you did the work of many;
Reduced that work by many hours.
You who sawed and crushed,
Threshed and ploughed and harrowed;
Your arrogantly belching smoke
Drifting over field and road.
Clanking and whooping --- declaring the new
As you dragged the future after you ---
Such a heavy, heavy load!
Can you remember that glory feast
When you made livestock flee and ponies bolt,
When you breathed softly like a mighty beast;
Made babies cry and dogs revolt:
When you gleamed and shone.
You were a living thing.
Can it be that you are dead, ---have you really gone?
Perhaps you only slumber, --- and dream
Of when you were an epitome
And not just part of history.
Though toothless now, and stripped;
Inside, your heart remains;
Seared by years of wind and sun;
Frozen and lashed by snow and rain;
Your time will never come again.
Oh, mighty warrior, Oh, sighing monster,
How I feel for you, now so sad and unloved;
When once you ruled supreme,
The most modern of things.
But everything is of it's time:
(And time destroys even the biggest and the stongest);
And as you moulder in the grass,
As suns and moons forever pass,
These dying days must be your longest.
Your age is now long gone;
As are the days of those who made you
And that empire you built together, --- Gone!
And I too who can imagine your paint shining,
Your polished brass and fiery breath
Will also soon be gone.
From rock to rust –
From flesh to dust!
Back from whence we came –
Back to the earth!
As I lie with you,
Let me cry with you.
© Barrie Cannon. 11th & 23rd January 2007
07:12 - 29 October 2008 - {3} -
A few weeks ago I went to the yearly 'Country show' at Barleylands, Billericay in Essex U.K. It is a huge show with a lot of nostalgic elements. These include old time crafts such as candle making, basket making etc and there are exhibits of sheep-shearing , ploughing by shire horses, birds of prey etc. They always have many old machines, -vintage cars, tractors, and lorries plus a big emphasis on steam power. The following photos are a nostalgic look back 100 years to the times when everything was powered by steam. Apart from traction engines ploughing and harrowing, running fairground rides and threshing corn, they were also sawing wood and breaking rocks, they even had a steam water-pump (fire-engine), steam cars and even a steam motorbike. Who would have thought that THAT was practical. It was a great day out being whisked back to simpler(?) times
Fowler traction engine harrowing a field
Burrell showmans engine, used to power fairgrounds
A very old crane
A steam fire engine/water pump
A traction engine driving a sawing machine
A traction engine driving a threshing machine
A steam MOTORBIKE!- who would have thought it?
A Foden steam wagon
A 1901 American steam car, a Locomobile
02:53 - 15 October 2008 - {3} -
I am posting this poem now, from my backlog from last March, as the concept cropped up recently in 'blog-talk' with 'strangecloud'. She liked the theme so I said I'd post it -- and here it is.
It may be a bit 'corny', but employing it has helped to keep me sane over the years.
So 'strangecloud', I dedicate this to you. Hope you like it.
71. KEEP THE CHILD ALIVE
Yes, we must be wary, of those who would exploit,
And in our business dealings, should always be adroit.
Being mindful of life’s pitfalls shouldn’t harden us to joy;
There is a simple method, that I always employ.
To keep our manner mild,
To stop our outlook being defiled,
See the wonder all around you
With the eyes of a child.
Why do you bemoan your ‘lot’,
Is the sun not warm and bright?
Being part of Nature’s ‘plot’
Should fill you with delight.
The sighing shade of mighty trees,
Flowers waving in the breeze;
To hear the sound of birdsong;
There are no finer things than these.
With the strain and pace of modern life
And our pressures bearing down,
We can lessen the amount of strife,
If we REALLY look around.
See past the rush and tear,
Is there not music in the air?
Is there not companionship ---
The joy of friends, to share?
Pause to see perfection in the way it all connects;
Recollect, and respect how it feeds our intellect.
Remember long ago, when you were young and small?
Trying to make sense of it, -- thrilling to it all.
Now, no matter how you strive,
Or if your fortunes take a dive;
Never lose that sense of wonder
And try and keep ‘that child’ alive.
Always be yourself, then you’ll remember who you are.
Remember early innocence: shine like that early ‘star’.
Be happy being busy, with the unimportant
And always try and keep your sense of wonder constant.
When things get black as thunder,
When others tear your life asunder;
Always keep ‘your child‘ alive;
It will stop you ‘going under’.
The majesty of mountains, the pounding of the sea:
We are surrounded by such magic, but we don’t always SEE!
While coping with reality, every working day,
Keep it in perspective, -- see it in this special way.
Put life’s pressures to one side,
Look with humility, not pride;
See things from ‘outside the box’,
Then you will glow inside.
Our architecture through the ages,
Our inventions and our art,
The revelations of our sages,
All should really lift your heart.
Try not to be indignant,
And quash those thoughts malignant;
Always keep ‘your child’ alive
Then notice life, -- magnificent.
© Barrie Cannon. Sun 16th & Mon.17th March 2008.
06:35 - 7 October 2008 - {4} -
Hear's an entry for any petrol-heads that pass this way.
Here are four shots of me and my 'baby'. The first two are at a classic-car show at the Royal Gunpowder Mills, (historic site) at Waltham Abbey, Essex. The last two aerial shots are taken by my friend Ian from his flat window in Colchester Essex.
The car is a RONART W152. Mk2 (straight six)
It is built by a small firm in Peterborough and uses the drive-train from a 1979 Jaguar XJ6. The chassis is a moderm 'space-frame' and the body new although it is 1950's retro-styling to look like the old 50's racing cars. This is raw, 'flies in the teeth' motoring, and great fun.
It gets huge attention -- people take my photo while driving along. I have had 120mph out of it and there was 'plenty left'. Who needs a Porsche when you can have this. It is rare, too, as only around 80 have been made and each one is unique to the owners specifications. I have had some great times in it; holidays in South of France + Monaco, Southern Ireland, the Pyrenees, and I also span off the road into a field at 60mph ,in France in 2002 on the way to Corsica which was distressing. Its going well now and I LOVE IT.
12:10 - 20 September 2008 - {5} -
I promised fellow blogger & 'old pal' Chandramoon when I met up with her at 'The Big Chill' festival that I would send her this poem from my remaining back log written in the Spring. By putting it on here there may still be one or two other people who will see it, though I don't think I get many visitors these days. I know Chandra will love half of it but will equally hate the other half. However, the message in it is that existence is a necessary mix of opposites. You can't have good without bad, light without dark, growth without decay etc.
Although its the same verse pattern throughout without my usual variances, I still think its powerful. See what you think.
75. THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
I believe in education,
I believe in aspiration,
I believe in motivation - to be somebody great.
I believe in deprivation,
Leading to desperation,
And final resignation to what must be your fate.
I believe in aggression,
I believe in repression,
I believe that suppression is the way to keep things ‘tight’.
I believe in self-expression,
I believe in learning lessons,
And that defeating oppression - is always worth the fight.
I believe in precision,
I believe in forward vision,
I believe in ambition, hand in hand with honest toil.
I believe in sedition,
I believe in division,
And that decomposition - awaits us in the soil.
I believe in agitation,
And continued provocation,
So it leads to altercation and makes us break the mould.
I believe that inspiration
Should fire our imagination,
Creating innovation, so progression can unfold.
I believe in isolation,
Leading to alienation,
Then to utter desolation, and the misfit’s lonely plight.
I believe in great elation,
I believe in stimulation
And that sense of jubilation, when everything goes right.
I believe in sex attraction,
I believe in interaction,
I believe in satisfaction - bringing pleasure to a head.
I believe in transgression,
I believe in mad obsession,
I believe in ‘possession’ and the raising of the dead.
We should enjoy all our flirtations,
Then give in to temptation,
Without hesitation; -- procreation is a must.
I believe in masturbation,
I believe in copulation,
I believe in fornication, and the giving in to lust.
I believe in our seduction;
It leads to reproduction,
And society’s construction, and creation of the new.
But also in obstruction,
Necessary reduction,
Sometimes total destruction, - leaving just a few.
I believe that termination,
I believe eradication --
Total obliteration could be the ending of our song.
I believe in moderation,
I believe in toleration,
I believe in integration, if we are going to go on.
I believe that disillusion,
Will lead us to collusion,
Then a final retribution against those who did us wrong.
I believe in inclusion,
I believe in resolution,
I believe a good conclusion is that we should ALL belong.
I believe in insurrection,
Enabling of correction,
And final resurrection, and the victory of good.
I believe in commination
I believe in subjugation
And then total domination by control of all the food.
I believe in evolution,
I believe in revolution,
I believe in brave solutions, if we are going to evolve.
I believe in delusion,
I believe in dissolution,
I believe we cause pollution,-- make more problems than we solve.
I believe in liberation,
And a sense of obligation,
And total emancipation is a just and worthy goal.
I believe discrimination,
And then intimidation,
Finally, elimination will keep things ‘in control’.
I believe in contemplation
That brings a revelation,
That leads us to salvation, - and making us whole.
I believe in desecration,
I believe in condemnation,
Then extermination, - and damnation of the soul.
© Barrie Cannon. Sat. 22nd – Easter Mon. 24th March 2008.
01:21 - 3 September 2008 - {4} -
This is the last festival I went to this year, and so last lot of festy-photos. This was a good one as it was two-in-one. The Sunrise festival was closed on the very first day due to torrential rain. They were lucky that the Big Chill festival offered them the chance to tack it on to their own festival later and honour all Sunrise customers' tickets which was a relief to all concerned. The Big Chill has become more mainstream now with a lot of trancey dance stages as well as up-beat groups - not really chilled at all. It was a nice setting near the Malvern Hills and apart from Thurs night which rained heavily, the weather was then good. Here are some photos.
A couple of my good self.
Not as big as your usual Tudor mansion
Beware the 'Banana People', they are coming for YOU
Boys 'in touch with their feminine side'
Radio controlled mechanical horse
They set fire to this desirable residence on the last night. It was an amazing blaze
01:30 - 30 August 2008 - {3} -
I have been coming to this since 1990 & it is my 4th festy this year. It moved two years ago to a nicer site in the grounds of Chartwell Park, a stately home in Wiltshire UK. Much roomier and greener than the old Reading site but further away for me. It is a much more civilised crowd at this one--NO GARBAGE. These people really care!
This festival has a great vibe and features acts from all round the world allowing one to see styles and strange instruments that you would never see anywhere else. It opens your eyes to the vast cultural diversity that is out there.
This year the highlights for me were a group of Japanese Taiko drummers, mostly women, called 'Go-coo', who were awesome --so powerful & energetic. Also a Chinese 'diva' called Sa Ding-ding, who was like a porcelain doll.- see photo
07:06 - 26 August 2008 - {1} -
I have added two photos of Glastonbury to my last entry (the giant dragonfly made with chainsaws, and the 'Mer-folk'.)
The next festival I went to was GUILFEST at Guilford, Surrey. This one is more civilised & middle class & specialises in old groups 'doing the rounds one more time'. For example Richie Havens and Blondie were there this year. They have a good dance area though AND a comedy tent too.
Here are a few pics including one of the legendary Richie Havens who opened the original Woodstock in 1968.
I had quite a laugh here, hanging out with a woman colleague of my son & her friend. The friend got wrongly 'busted' & spent the night in a Police cell. Never a dull moment, eh?
01:07 - 24 August 2008 - {1} -
Hi readers, Yes i've not done anything on here for a while. efx2 going off line interrupted the flow and I've been away a lot at festivals recently doing 5 festies in 6 weeks; - Not bad for someone in my advanced state of decay, Ha ha!
I know its old news now, but the Glastonbury festival was the best for years weather wise this year. Although we had rain on the Thurs night as usual, the warm w/e & breezes dried it out quickly and it wasn't the usual swamp. On the downside the line-up was poor this year I thought. The acts I thought really good were Massive Attack, Groove Armada, Goldfrapp, Crowded House and Spiritualised.. Here are a few photos of the site to give y'all a flava.
06:12 - 19 August 2008 - {2} -
Posted in Unspecified
This is Chandramoon posting for Rhymester. I've set him up a back up blog at VOX so if you're a subscriber here make a note
http://rhymesteruk.vox.com
09:06 - 22 July 2008 - {1} -
Due to all my recent Peru photo entries I have not put any new poems up for quite a while. I've not been writing since Spring as there are plenty of jobs to do now Summer is here, besides which I needed a break from my most intense writing period to date ( Jan- March 08).
I still have seven from that period to post here, so here is the oldest. It was done for two reasons: first to tie up and finish another old loose end, and secondly, to fulfill a writing-group project, which was to write a sonnet.
Now, sonnets are a particularly precise and difficult format to achieve.
They have to have 14 lines, with ten or eleven syllables per line. Then the rhyme pattern for the first two groups of four lines is 1 with 4, and 2 with 3.
The last six lines rhyme on lines 2, 4 & 6, with line 5 picking up the last rhyme of the second group of four ( The mid section)
I SAID IT WAS BLOODY AWKWARD DIDN'T I.??
Anyway I did it in the poem below and as it has THREE verses I had to actually do THREE sonnets. This style is not as 'reader friendly' as other patterns as a result. Nevertheless, it came out OK under these restrictive circumstances and tied up a loose end as well. I hope you bother to check it out as it was a hard one to do.
NOTE: 'Prole' comes from George Orwell's famous book '1984' and means a member of the lower working class; the 'common man' --- from the word 'proletariat'.
69. ‘PROLE’ DREAMER
Same boring job, another boring day;
Mentally dulled, I ’m just getting more staid;
My effort put in, is worth more than I’m paid;
Trapped in monotony, I must break away.
Back at home, it is not any better;
My wife ’s always moaning – she never stops,
Telling me what all the others have got;
Says what she wants, is a real go-getter.
Sits on her ‘arse’ – won’t improve things herself,
I really don’t care for her attitude.
While she ’s glued to the T.V. on the shelf,
I’m dismissively ‘fobbed off’ with platitude.
I ’m wishing now, that I ’d never met her;
All I want is a little gratitude.
My heirloom mirror, hanging in the hall
Is now cracked within its now damaged frame.
No family member will admit to blame;
There is little respect for me, at all.
An over-full bin with food scraps that stink –
Make a variety of odours that linger.
In this rundown house no-one ‘lifts a finger’;
There ’s always dishes piled up in the sink.
Also in the hall, is a stand of hats,
Each branch bearing hats like a family tree:
Every hat the ‘fruit of accidents’ that
Tie me down, and prevent me being free.
From thoughts of a future like this, I shrink,
Drifting off once again into reverie.
So many have ambitious dreams
But haven’t got the will;
Succumb to all their old routines –
Go forward-- standing still.
Un-ironed washing is piled everywhere
While mindless dross trickles out of ‘the box’,
With its moron-celebrity paradox;
Hypnotised, she vicariously stares.
I know I have talent, I WILL ‘break out’:
One day soon I ’ll ‘make it’ and startle you,
With MY face in front of a camera crew;
I ’ll wash-away your memories of doubt,
I must start again and find my own way.
There must be someone who can see what I see;
Who sees my worth, who will give me ‘my day’;
Tomorrow, a someone who feels just like me.
No more ‘couch potatoes’, just getting stout:
And becoming something I don’t want to be.
So many have ambitious dreams
But haven’t got the will;
Succumb to all their old routines –
Go forward-- standing still.
(c) Barrie Cannon. 12th & 13th March 2008
12:40 - 18 June 2008 - {6} -
Here is another photo batch from my recent holiday in Peru. As my few readers seem to be nearly all women, I thought I'd put these shots up for you all; -- so you can see your Peruvian sisters!
12:32 - 18 June 2008 - {4} -
For those p'd off with my Peru photos, I thought I'd put up the 2x English pics. below.
A few weeks ago on the ONE good week that constitutes the English Summer, I went to my first ever biker rally with my Irish friend Tim who is into motor bikes. Considering what the weather has been like since, we were very lucky to get through it dry. It was held near Macclesfield.
Me on a rather cool trike.
My own trusty steed- 23 years old now, but lookin' good.
OH, Yes, -- you can't beat the English at play, can you??
06:12 - 3 June 2008 - {3} -
While In a remote part of Peru I was lucky enough to see both a long AND shorthaired example of two-legged Llamas, thought to be extinct. They walk like ostriches- very strange.
I have of course informed the Zoological Society
APOLOGIES FOR SOME OF MY PREVIOUS PERU PHOTOS DISAPPEARING, BELOW. I DELETED THEM FROM MY IMAGE-HOST-SITE , NOT REALISING THAT THEY WOULD DISAPPEAR FROM MY BLOG TOO,--OOPS! I WON'T BOTHER RE-INSTATING THEM, BUT PUT NEW ONES UP INSTEAD
06:05 - 2 June 2008 - {8} -
Another batch Peru-hol. pics.
The ornate facade is of the 'Compania de Jesus' carved in the local 'mestizo' baroque style.
The volcano is 'Misti', which overlooks Arequipa & erupts every 500years (200 to go).
The last chasm shots are of the Colca canyon, the wider parts of which have been terraced by the local 'indians' for 1700 years.
05:31 - 31 May 2008 - {1} -
I went to the Nazca plain and took the obligatory flight over it to see the famous Nazca lines (Nasca). These people lived on this arid plain from 100-600AD. and produced many dead straight lines and trapezoids on the desert floor. They also produced many elegant and precise animal shapes. This was done purely by removing stones that lay accross the ground. The intiguing thing is how did they manage to do such big shapes so accurately. They can only be seen and appreciated from the air so did they have a means to 'get up there'? (hot air balloons maybe?). Some think that they ritually walked round the shapes-like a spiritual journey, but no-one knows.
Here are two nice ariel views plus some of the animal shapes: a bird a monkey, a hummingbird and a spider, which is very 'cool'.
12:21 - 28 May 2008 - {4} -
Well, the Peru photos are coming thick & fast now. This third lot are of the Ballestas Isles, about five miles out from a harbour called Paracas.The Isles are used as breeding grounds by many types of seabirds and also sea-lions. The guano is 'harvested' for fertiliser, every five years.
This last photo is for Chandramoon who wanted one of me. I hope this one amuses! (Not much hair about these days, though!)
04:33 - 26 May 2008 - {1} -
The entire Western seaboard of Peru is desert as it NEVER rains here, due to the effect of the cold Humbolt current coming up from Antarctica. They only get sea mists. Lima the capital is built here with an ever increasing population which has to bring water down from inland mountains.For a long way out of town people are setting up shanty towns where NOTHING grows. There is no water and no vegetation for man or livestock. No work either. Don't ask me how they survive!
The vultures are no doubt waiting for the early demise of anyone crazy enough to live here.
There is plenty of sea bird life off the arid coast. These shots are taken near the Ballestos Isles where huge colonies nest. The coast is barren and on one sandy cliff an ancient unknown people have carved a massive cactus design by removing the top stone layer. The age and reason is unknown.
A couple of great dune -shots. I'm proud of these two. Barren or what???
These last pics. show how empty the coast is, apart from the occasional river valley that permits a narrow strip to be farmed.
05:08 - 25 May 2008 - {4} -
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