A couple of items are to be included today!
First of all, a poem I've recently written. I have only shown it to my dear friend Lucy and to Mom, Kim and Toni. They're the folks who've traditionally been my poetry reviewers. This one isn't great, but it is another that is based on Sydney.

Observations on a Late-Summer Evening in Sydney

Written: March 20, 2007

The evening is warm fading summer

as the last of the jacaranda blossoms,

age-faded and drained of life,

twist slowly in the fountain’s pooling water –

a final moment of waning beauty.

The stone-faced statued lady

gazes blankly at their tired dance

while the sun slowly creeps

to bed,

her purple-tailed and pink-hued robes

glide across the Australian sky.

Now this is a descriptive piece on a recent experience I've had. It has been submitted to a Rotary magazine in Oz/NZ.

I have been very keen to become active in the community since my arrival in Australia---actually, even before my arrival! Fortunately for me, I've had the opportunity to become a volunteer with an amazing Rozelle-based charity known as Just Enough Faith (JEF). The following provides a glimpse into my first night assisting with a JEF project in the City of Sydney.

It's a muggy late-summer evening in Sydney. The back of the van is hot; a mixture of curry and rice scents linger in the stagnant air. Three other volunteers and I are quickly manoeuvring heavy pans of food onto the serving table as they brief me---the newbie---on protocol. With a collective nod of readiness, the serving windows are flung open...

I'm not sure what I expected to see beyond those windows. I do know that no amount of briefing could have prepared me for what I felt. Either way, there was no time for sentimentality when so many of Sydney's homeless stood queued-up, waiting for what could have been their only meal of the day.

I dished out the vegetable curry I had been assigned as diligently as possible, but I wouldn't be surprised is there were moments of discernible wavering on my part. I snapped in and out of reality with each few plates, at times holding back tears. Seeing those faces---many smiling and very kind, several joking with us, but all hungry---was such an emotive experience. To be certain, being in the back of that van was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I commend Jeff and Alina Gambin and their crew of workers and volunteers for the brilliant work they do under the flag of Just Enough Faith. I thank them for welcoming me aboard as a volunteer, and I look forward to helping them try to make the lives of Sydney 's homeless population a little less bleak.