Telling Tales (true or tall)

FAMILY JIGSAW I think of family as a living jigsaw in a great, big box. Everything in order, sitting pretty and much valued. Separately, depending on others, like building blocks And, with each fragment, the whole of us continued.   Although bits were rearranged, it still looked like Us. Friends and colleagues might cause some movement But the picture gradually returned to our ordinariness. Life continued despite what changes might represent.   Until the vessel broke and pieces scattered everywhere. Frantic scrabbling and searching failed to find them all. I’m searching for an important piece, lost somewhere, So the completed picture can again be the Us I recall.   © Sandy Gillis July 2023  Published Dec 2024 Hinterland Times  

MEMORIES I reach over in my sleep To cuddle your warm, tousled body. But the sheets are cold. You no longer seek my comfort in the night.   I hear you chuckling down the hall, Are you playing and hiding in the kitchen? But the cupboard’s bare. There’s no laughter in you anymore.   I think I see you waving to me from afar And run towards you to find out why. Then you turn away. My advice no longer needed; you know all.   My mind knows this too will pass But my heart yearns for the happy toddler Who saw me, her mother, As the love and the light of her life.   Sandy Gillis ©   Submitted to Hinterland Times July 2019  -  Published Mar 2020

There's a stash of memories running wild in my brain! A maelstrom of phrases and words trying to escape. They're headbutting my skull, riding roughshod again, Jostling madly for position, lining up on my tongue And I'm frantically searching my dry mouth in vain, For those pithy recollections before they disappear.     Could I have reached the end of this corporeal life; Is senility attacking my mind, deleting all as it goes? My cutting wit, once much admired, sharp as a knife, Reduced to raving and mumbling, not making sense. In my mind I’m still young, not ready for the afterlife. I try to put fading memories into some sort of order.   Then suddenly, a light shines on one lone memory, Grandad saying, “It’s the forgetting that’s difficult.” And just like that, I recall every single tale and story, Which, a frantic minute ago, I thought had vanished. My audience is small, attendance wasn’t obligatory, And I feel the anxiety disappear, ...

  DE JA VU -ING Sometimes, I cannot actually tell Where dreams begin and reality ends. Am I surfing a mountainous swell Or just dreaming about riding high? Surely, I’ve walked this track recently, Fighting through an overgrown path. Although it all seems so familiar to me, Perhaps it’s just the struggle that is real. Standing at the edge of the precipice I fight the urge to take another step Then fly like a bird high above the abyss Before landing safely way below. It’s just a dream and I wake in fright, But I see it’s time to keep walking Into reality. Not from that great height But forward towards new opportunities. No more dreaming, or de ja vu -ing. Time for authenticity in my existence, Some go-getting and positive ‘doing’. Dreams are for those sleeping through life.   © S Gillis 2023 Published Hinterland Times July 2023

  OBI MAGIC   Timing and patience I’m told is the key. So, I watch and wait so very patiently, While others try to trick my roving eyes. I’m not fooled, as I wave away the flies, Concentrating on swirls and ripples, Not turtles and fish faking it with bubbles.   There! Deep ripples across the creek! Excitement makes my knees go weak. As I prepare myself and my camera I hear the chuckling of a kookaburra, And think, perhaps it’s laughing at me. But no!  How joyous to finally see…   My quarry right there in front, eye to eye. Click, click, click! Nonchalant and not shy, Happily posing for me before diving away. I’ll never forget the first time, a Monday, That I saw an ornithorhynchus anatinus , Maleny’s very own wonderful platypus!   © S Gillis 2023 (published Hinterland Times March 2023)

  TIRED OF TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK… Some Entitled People walking amongst us don’t have to follow the rules, There is something special about those people (that some of us call fools). Their dogs don’t have to be on leash when they walk them around town, And if you dare say a word, they’ll swear at you loudly and stare you down.   How dare you question the fact that they’re more entitled than hoi polloi. The Entitled don’t ever worry about what all their pets might destroy. Even their kitties wander around killing wildlife whenever and wherever. They have no concerns that some unique wildlife could be lost forever. Locked down you say? Well, their holiday's more important than your health, So they sneak over borders, visiting places everywhere, using super stealth. And when they've been diagnosed with that very contagious Corona virus, They throw everyone's plans into disarray. Now who's hurting? All of US!   The Entitled don’t worry about things ...