Adventures of a Bookonaut: Post–it note poetry–Sentinel

Feb 5, 2013

Post–it note poetry–Sentinel

Today’s poem was inspired by the ruins of soldier settlers farm houses that can be found with in 50km of my farm.

The story as I have heard it told was that on returning from war in the Middle East soldiers planted date palms. In remembrance or as symbol of victory I am not sure, but for many of these houses all that remains are palm trees and the ruined remnants of limestone cottages.

Sentinel

Date palm
stands sentinel
o’er scattered stones, and dreams
long dreamt of boneless soils well tilled
by settled soldiers

If you want to monitor the rest of the crew participating in the Post-it note poetry thang search the #postitnotepoetry tag on twitter.

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Comments (16)

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wolfmama 41p · 631 weeks ago

Ooh deep.
My recent post Editing and proofreading

1 reply · active 631 weeks ago

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SB Wright 110p · 631 weeks ago

:)

My recent post The Subjects – an experimental and experiential project

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adampb 35p · 631 weeks ago

Love the line of "boneless soils well tilled"
Adam B @revhappiness
My recent post Post It Note Poetry February 5

4 replies · active 631 weeks ago

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SB Wright 110p · 631 weeks ago

yes, that's my favourite part as well
My recent post The Subjects – an experimental and experiential project

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Jodi Cleghorn 25p · 631 weeks ago

I have to agree with that... and I wonder too (editor in me can't help myself after I read your behind the scenes commentary) about forgotten soldiers as the last line.

Date palms remind me of Port Douglas and Christopher Skase buying an entire plantation of them in Northern Territory and having them transported to Port Douglas to line the road in from the highway. To me date palms (because of this) always scream excess.

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SB Wright 110p · 631 weeks ago

That's interesting. In Alice were I grew up we had the Mecca Date Gardens were they were grown for their fruit. They made wonderful date scones and sticky date pudding.

In doing some further research I note that Baron Von Mueller, a Government Botanist , instructed early explorers to plant the seeds of their dates around waterholes for future travelers. But then up until the first world war the interior of Australia was peopled with a number of workers from the middle east, Muslim Cameleers from Afghanistan and various other peoples for whom the dates would have been familiar.

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SB Wright 110p · 631 weeks ago

so were you suggesting forgotten soldiers as the last line? I like the alliteration of settled soldiers and the way that it brings in the history of soldier settlement/grants of land. Is the forgetting implied? I don't know?

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jason nahrung 25p · 631 weeks ago

I reckon your missus could make a mighty fine image to go with that one, Sean; very evocative ...

7 replies · active 631 weeks ago

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Jodi Cleghorn 25p · 631 weeks ago

I was just saying to Sean on Twitter I'd love to see some of these homesteads as Sean and I were talking about them in our podcast interview.

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jason nahrung 25p · 631 weeks ago

Sounds like a road trip, Jodi. If only we had someone to stay with ...

Cheers,

Jason
<a href="http://www.jasonnahrung.com
www.jasonnahrung.com<br />
Sent from my mobile

----- Reply message -----
From: "IntenseDebate Notifications" <notifications@intensedebatemail.com>
To: "jason nahrung" <jnahrung@gmail.com>
Subject: Jodi Cleghorn replied to your comment on Post–it note poetry–Sentinel

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SB Wright 110p · 631 weeks ago

By all means. You're all welcome. We can do a tour of the clare valley wineries, go swimming at the beach :) Plenty of room at our place

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jason nahrung 25p · 631 weeks ago

<DIV dir=ltr align=left>Ooh, I like the Clare! We'll keep that in mind, Sean!</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr lang=en-us>

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SB Wright 110p · 631 weeks ago

I would suggest either Spring or Autumn. After acclimatizing to Ballarat you might find the Summer uncomfortable :)

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SB Wright 110p · 631 weeks ago

Found a couple on my way to work. Not the exact ones I had in mind when writing the poem. I will snap a few on my way home when the light is better

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SB Wright 110p · 631 weeks ago

That discussion arose this very morning. And thanks :)

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Handbags Online · 588 weeks ago

Your family might include ghosts, or zombies, or vampires. Maybe they just have allergies. Nobody’s perfect.

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