Poetry Writings Artwork and stories from Neil Furby

Of the Eighteenth Century, along with the rise

Of capitalism and scientific method, the logical
Foundations of Western thought decayed and fell apart.
When they fell apart, poets were left

With emotions and experiences, and with no way
To examine them. At this time, poets and men
Of genius began to go mad. Gray went mad. Collins

Went mad. Kit Smart was mad. William Blake surely
Was a madman. Coleridge was a drug addict, with severe
Depression. Hart Crane died mad.
Ezra Pound was mad.

  But you will not go mad; you will grow up
To become happy, sentimental old college professors,
Because they were men of genius, and you

Are not; and the ideas which were vital
To them are mere amusement to you." Robert Pinsky's poem "Essay on Psychiatrists"

Our daffodils come from English nobility,planted by Romans and now here in a far away  land the yellow heads nod in the wind and look around at all the strange fauna and flora around them  in a sea of other green and other sounds and other smells and other feels of other soils.

@ nfurby 

 

 

Then there was no end to the rage and disappointment of Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca. They broke up the puddings, the lobsters,the pears and the oranges.

As the fish would not come off the plate, they put it into the red-hot crinkly paper fire in the kitchen: but it would not burn either

So what to do Tom said

Lets set the house on fire and do away with the lot said Hunca who had not taken her medication for two days and it was starting to show.

 Silly silly said Tom lets just blow the whole street up and have done with this mundane life we are leading and lets go where mice can be free

Where is that said Hunca who now was starting to twitch her whiskers rotating in ever wider circles

 Micevana where we become holier than holier till we rotate on our tails spinning into a frothy feel good state leaving this world behind for ever said Tom crossing his legs and chanting cheeeese

So off they ran into the unkown never to be seen again leaving behind the puddings, the lobsters and the pears and the oranges to their own devices

Thanks to Beatrix Potter

@ Nfurby

Met Jesus down the local supermarket packing shelves. He told me he was starting again as no one seemed to be celebrating his Birthday any more as they were to busy feeding the consumer monster.

Hope he makes a comeback

Be kind be tender be true

 

 Graham the muzz Wolf     Tony the Italian  Neil The tongue Furbs and the Sign

 

So I said to the team at Farside Galley lets hit the old Gallery and take that sign thats outside and put it up here at the new Gallery . So with Tony the Italian we meet at the old Gallery building to do the biz

Easy I had a plan . lets just take off the 3 bolts and let it swing down to the ground. Well so here I am 4 metres off the ground 2 bolts screwed out and that sucker just creaks out and hangs stuck at a crazy angle to the sidewalk e. whoops I say did not expect that. Well next thing this fat wallet turns up in his Merc and lays a who are you trick onto us .Well me kinda brushed up any way up that ladder says back Who are you .Well he retorts his blood pressure showing I own the building Ok Yea Yea leave us in peace . He goes away although he returns about 5 mins to tell us to replace any holes in the wall

Tony panics and calls momma Racheal at base and she says call the fire Brigade. we will never live that one down Momma .We could never walk the streets of Petone  again. So we have a think I give a rendition of Do not cry for me Petone atop the ladder. So we decide to unscrew the two side panels , tie a rope to the frame and pull the thing to ground . It worked and off we went 

THE ETYMOLOGY OF NEARNESS


The street was empty when with a gloomy laughter
I stopped the progression of transience and mortar,
a different picture of love seeping from it.
Sleigh bells of vanity and the unarmed symmetry
were fading like new fragrances and biblical nostalgia.

At the same place I met the warmth
of her long fingers, among them,
lurking shyly, the ancient danger of arson
and that mathematically clear feeling
of similarity everyone finds so very dear.

Millions of trampled steps
on the damp and muddy sidewalk
bear witness to the only genuine past, inscribed
in the dull rock of the street, then a stereotype
shaped by every whiteness of my incidental sentence.


June 1991



© 1992, Branko Čegec

Just another day

Started off early in Lyall Bay working on the recycled fence. Just had to saw off the top of the old hard wood door. Drama wind got up saw dust in the eyes and nails snagging the saw. Then I noticed a leak in the spa tub !! Got down and dirty to tighten pipe onto the pump. After 5 attempts success.

Then to Petone and morning tea at the Gallery where a call went out for volunteers as funding required as usual to keep the place going. Well 6 folk turned up which was great for 07.

Then to Victoria’s Hairdresser to pick up paintings for the exhibition next March.

Since I told her about the New Faces exhibition she has produced 20 paintings and more keep coming.

 Off to Mikes place for late lunch. Talked about him preforming at The Fiesta next year He lives off the motorway where if you blink you miss the turn off. I blinked and had to travel 5 km up and 5 km back and 2 km up the motorway to Mikes place. Helped him and Kate to put together a double bed, which kept falling apart. Farce. Then had lunch and listened to a Chills DVD for old times sake.

Then to Lower Hutt City center a walk along the river and then to the cinema to watch Boyag about an Eastern Europe mans adventures in USA. Very funny but the real people in the film are now taking out law suits against the film makers for being duped

Off to Newtown to watch Hamlet. 3 hours of intense dialogue and action which made my head spin .So bad I drove off to Titahi Bay to have a row out into the sea, apologize to D for racing off, then to settle do a bit of play writing on Winter D’s play which is very funny Then good night world

  

Went to get some veg and fruit at Porirua Market and was stopped by three people preaching the word 

One fellow looking a bit under the weather as if he had spent a hard night on the booze (but his passion for Jesus did shine through) talked to me about that we should give our selves to the lord our God completely and that Hell awaits those who did not follow this path 

 

The second fellow asked me my name and said can I change it to MarkSo there was  me standing there with my new name and him telling me his name was Luke from South Africa. We talked about how Jesus’ real name was God but Buddha was just called Buddha. He said he had read a 3 metre high scroll on the way of Buddha but it did not equal the Bible: a copy of which he pulled out of his pocket.Suddenly it started to rain (Divine Intervention) and I ran for cover

 

Then on my way out of the market I thought I was clear but a young woman who said she was on a world trip to spread the word gave me a copy of A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Easy Journeys to Other Planets   This easy journey to other planets must be easier than my journey to buy fruit and vegetables I feel       

We walked along the beach and watched the two Oyster Catchers with their long beaks bicker and parade amongst the incoming tide

Then crunching across the shells we followed the trail amongst the sand dunes

Dogs ran excited freed from their cubed in 3 bed and bath swished towards us and gone

Behind them their owner hands in pockets cool followed no rush

What’s this a wet snake 12 foot long marked on the path

Was it a dog that had left its mark??

Or perhaps Mr. cool who might have had a bad day at work and decided to wave a dick at society was the one

Then a yelp a pain stabbed the air and one dog had fouled on a fence hanging by a leg

The other dog ran to help with mr cool a quick pace behind

Freed and off the fenced dog bounded into the distance

 

Then on to the Lembas Café with a delightful waitress who knew little about the food drink or performers but tried her best

Two tea bags later $4.50 and back to Puk Bay road jammed next to the best view around

Sweet time

  

 

Some socks are loners -

They can’t live in pairs.

They hide in corners

ready to run away

Some socks are naughty

leaving their mate for other

odd couplings tangling  in the wash

Some socks rebel and fall apart

Trapping big toes

and exposing heel bare

But some socks never stray these ways

paired for life

till tossed away their use outlast

@Neil Furby

What I dislike is people who pencil in comments in to library books

Why what is the point ??

Read the words and forget the little mistakes

who are these people

Would they confess to doing this stuff

If I find one of these folk I will wait til they die

Then to work on their head stones

Chip chip away

 Rest in Peace

no way

 

Met a woman who said she could see right through me

Told me I only had 20 summers left and my cosmic surround was full of faces, faces not happy but in some kind a turmoil .

Now I know why I have such strange dreams and that from now on I must migrate around the globe living a life in perpetual winter never seeing or feeling the warm glow of summer

Think I might take a risk with the summers  and as for the faces welcome aboard i might make you laugh

@ Neil Furby