BEING KAREN

It was a quiet day, Tuesday morning does not scream tattoo. When she walked in I thought she was looking for her kid, not looking for ink. She wasn’t looking for ink either. She wandered over to the display and my heart sank a little, she was too old for a tramp stamp, too elegant for anything wild, and then I wondered if she already had some, just not where they could be seen. That cheered me up. She made eye contact and that was her way of smiling and saying hello. “Do you

Why, Lady? I have to ask. So many why’s. Why not choose differently? Why not give us a Queen of Ithaca? Choose a young lusty lover, choose three, throw them away, husks of corn, choose again. What could the old father do? The old dog. While your husband lies with the witch queen, while all the time Nausicaa is there. (That is a fear. To fall in love is dangerous.) Why did you not storm the temple of wise Athena, she so solicitous of your man always, and demand better? The loo

If you were born here, or came to live here, it's not a huge stretch to say you live in one of the best places to live on this planet of ours. Unless you were born here in the group of people who have lived here for 35,000 years or so. Give or take. What is wrong with us that we need to celebrate the wrong day. Come on, every bloody day is Australia day here, change the damn date! I wrote this 20 years ago, was a bit cross, still am. AUSTRALIA DAY 2001 I feel a little sick in