Leaping off a Precipice

By Graham Patterson

Would you care for a joyful surprise? These surprises are packaged in four themes and each theme has a selection of haiku, longer poems and a play. The themes are Life & Death, Far Out, Red Roses and Time
& place.

Who is the writer? Is there a photo? No. Can you find out more on social media? Probably not. All you need to know is that: sometimes I am a teenager and sometimes an octogenarian at a funeral who thinks hecould well be next in that coffin. Sometimes I am young, foolish and crazy about my new love and sometimes I am glad I have had the same partner for thirty plus years. Sometimes I am a responsible professional earning a living and sometimes a dreamer. Sometimes I am comfortably stuck in Australian suburbia and sometimes coping with life in a foreign country. That experience has been essential to my writing.

I am a haphazard writer. When something “falls from the sky’, I let it bounce around in my head until it takes shape: perhaps as a three line haiku, perhaps as a longer poem or even a play. Then I grab a pen and paper and write it down rapidly. So rapidly that my hand struggles to keep pace with my head. Spontaneity and originality are linked. For me, creative writing is a series of joyful surprises. Sometimes they are more a revelation than a surprise. I would like to share these surprises with you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Mar 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669887287

Graham Patterson

Graham Patterson has led a fortunate life in the “lucky country” (Australia). Professionally he has been a teacher, school principal, educational consultant, university lecturer and foreign expert in China. His published work includes; Antipodean Tango, a bilingual collection of poetry in Danish and English with Per Eskildsen; Manifesto, advice on how to make Australia better; and The Naked Teacher, how to make learning faster, easier and more enjoyable. Two of his longer plays have been successfully staged by The Armidale Drama & Music Society.

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 by Graham Patterson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/17/2022

Xlibris

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AU Local: [phone] ([phone] from outside Australia)

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Contents

Before You Read

The Title

LIFE AND DEATH

More than Photos

Terminus

Death of A King

Ageing Surfer

Biscuit Crumbs

Cow-Cocky Diptych

The Last TV Show

Ticket to Temptation

FAR OUT

Country Music

The Jugglers

Recalcitrant Visitor

A Lover’s Return

Get Real

The Blank Page of Literature

Dreaming of Blue Hills

RED ROSES

Red Roses

The Dance of Love

Teenagers in Paradise

That Woman

Infatuation Game

Stranger on The Shore

Five Pebbles

Eve and Adam

TIME AND PLACE

Archway

Ruben’s Portrait

The School

Dreary Days

Shanghai – French Quarter

Kalarka Rivals

Past Perfect/Present Reality

Notes on Playful Haiku

Notes on Reading Poems

Notes for Would-Be Actors

Hosting an Event

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Before You Read

So you have my book in your hands. Perhaps you intend to read it from beginning to end, from cover to cover. Please don’t. There are four themes in this book, and they are like four delectable meals. You have to savour them one at a time. You can choose to start with any theme. If you are feeling sentimental, then start with Red Roses. If you are feeling adventurous or need to escape from the present, then start with Time and Place. If you are feeling introspective, then start with Life and Death. If you are feeling reckless and seeking to escape from routine, then start with Far Out. You should not read sequentially or even start again where you left off.

Perhaps you plan to read silently. That is your second mistake. Poetry and plays have ‘musicality’, a quality that can only be discovered by reading aloud. In fact, it is usually necessary to read a poem aloud at least twice to really appreciate its ‘musicality’. This is elaborated upon later in the Notes on Reading Poems.

Perhaps you plan to find a quiet place to be alone while you read. That is your third mistake. Poetry and plays demand an audience, so you will need to read to at least one other person.

Perhaps you think that once you have read all the poems and plays, then you have finished with this book. That is the fourth mistake. Each poem or part of a play is like a chocolate which you can enjoy. But unlike a chocolate, after it has been consumed, it miraculously comes back so you can have it again and again. The bonus is that a second, third, or even fourth reading is often more enjoyable than the first reading. This is a book that you can take on holiday to share with new friends. Sometime in the future, you may enter a retirement home, so this would be another chance to share with new companions.

If I have not offended you too much, you may still be curious to find out why this is not your normal book.

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The Title

The title comes from a favourite haiku of mine.

Good literature

takes you to a precipice

and dares you to leap.

Choose any example of literature that you have enjoyed and recall how you had to let go of your own comfortable reality. From my own experience, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment was an experience of free fall. I became that guilt-ridden murderer.

Warning

You may be tempted to put this book in a bookcase. Never do that. As a writer, I use my imagination to create something that is totally original. The act of creation brings into being spirits. Yes, every haiku, poem, or play in this book is a spirit. These spirits abhor dust and neglect. Dust and neglect can make them change from likeable spirits to malevolent spirits. It