In The First Instance

*

Time that is moved by little fidget wheels
Is not my time, the flood that does not flow.
Between the double and the single bell
Of a ship's hour, between a round of bells
From the dark warship riding there below,
I have lived many lives, and this one life
Of Joe, long dead, who lives between five bells.

Deep and dissolving verticals of light
Ferry the falls of moonshine down. Five bells
Coldly rung out in a machine's voice. Night and water
Pour to one rip of darkness, the Harbour floats
In the air, the Cross hangs upside-down in water.

Why do I think of you, dead man, why thieve
These profitless lodgings from the flukes of thought
Anchored in Time? You have gone from earth,
Gone even from the meaning of a name;
Yet something's there, yet something forms its lips
And hits and cries against the ports of space,
Beating their sides to make its fury heard.

Are you shouting at me, dead man, squeezing your face
In agonies of speech on speechless panes?
Cry louder, beat the windows, bawl your name!

But I hear nothing, nothing...only bells,
Five bells, the bumpkin calculus of Time.
Your echoes die, your voice is dowsed by Life,
There's not a mouth can fly the pygmy strait -
Nothing except the memory of some bones
Long shoved away, and sucked away, in mud;
And unimportant things you might have done,
Or once I thought you did; but you forgot,
And all have now forgotten - looks and words
And slops of beer; your coat with buttons off,
Your gaunt chin and pricked eye, and raging tales
Of Irish kings and English perfidy,
And dirtier perfidy of publicans
Groaning to God from Darlinghurst.
Five bells.

Kenneth Slessor

He knew he was on the precipice. Vistas, spectacular views across the valleys, kept opening up. The trouble was the destsiny bit. He could see them all smoking and dying, polluting their lungs and praying for a better day. But it wasn't just these neglected kernels, it wasn't just the passwords into deeper truths, it was a fragile sense of being, as if, truly, we were only here for the blinking of an eye. He was saturated with love. Or was it longing? A semester of pain. The police monitoring his every move. The spectacular day when he became a spokesman for his generation. That day in the streets of Darlinghurst when he looked up and said, profoundly, intensely, as if it was a major discovery, the world is not going to be the same in 30 years, we'll barely recognise it.

They agreed, in ragged jeans and long hair and scruffy presence, they pleaded for release. For comfort. For a return to the suburbs. He was already shattered. He wanted to be protected, looked after. He didn't want the cruel abandonment he had always known, the search for books that would tell his story, the stranger in a strange land now collapsed on a strange street, a significant outcome. He was spinning, his head was spinning, and he remained tight on the planet surface, anchored, longing. Speak to me of God, he said, and all that happened was the fabric of things collapsed even further. Sent as observer, he wasn't going to die. But he was frightened.

In all the morrows, in all the mourning, in the funeral processions in remote villages and in the strange debates over social issues. They couldn't bear to be contradicted. They couldn't debate on open ground. The pack mentality of the left was in full sway. They backed away from the emissions trading scheme; they were shadowed. He had seen it so often, waves of belief. They treated the public like fools. They instilled fear in order to gain power. It was so crass, so blatant, and then the global financial crisis took over from global warming as the scare tactic of the day, and all those earnest believers, all those wide eyed and fresh faced believers, their skin scrubbed with good health, their wide eyes sparkling clear and dangerous, did not know where to go.

It was a shadow of a former time. He had seen it all before. They were criminals, these rulers, these manipulators of the public fate, criminals because dishonest to the core. They themselves did not believe in the apocalyptic visions they so eagerly shoved down every body else's throat. They flew in their mighty jets and expected everybody else to pay. Sol Trujillo has exited the country after ripping $30 million plus out of Telstra, in massive salaries, massive bonuses, in expense bills miles long as he roamed the world from luxury hotel to luxury hotel, as if he too was a chief justice on an endless junket, a mightier, better person than the toiling masses who paid his salary, who contributed to his wealth with every phone call they made.

He was amazed, still amazed, at the pack stupidity of the masses, lifting and following every belief with infinite passion, believing and seeking, in God, in paradise, in justice, in re-distribution of wealth. It was hard to believe, in a Godless world, in a place where the fabric, the texture of things, was already barren, heartless. They wanted dto believe, those earnest masses. Walk lightly upon the earth. Be humble. Live simply. Adopt solar power and cleanse your soul. He was shocked at the pack mentality, and yet he had been the one monitoring it all along, his ancient role, the observer, the transmitter of truth, his ancient eyes seeing what this newly educated populace should have been able to see, that their vicious, blind hatred of everyone who did not agree with them, their determination to beleive, that it would not change because he had changed. Educated into ignorance. Stimulated into despair. Believe not what you are told; for there is little truth, not in this world, not in this culture, not now.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/26/north-korea-missiles-test

A defiant North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast today, according to news reports, hours after the UN security council condemned the apparently successful test of a nuclear weapon as powerful as the one that destroyed Hiroshima.

The 15-member UN security council will begin behind-the-scenes negotiations today designed to strengthen sanctions against Pyongyang, after an emergency meeting last night. Diplomats scrambled to forge a united front against a test seen as a provocative step towards North Korea gaining a full nuclear arsenal.

Tensions on the peninsula rose as Pyongyang accused the US of "hostile intent" today and the South Korean news agency Yonhap said the North had fired two missiles, citing an unnamed government source.

Seoul announced it would immediately join a US-led initiative to intercept ships suspected of carrying nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, component parts or missiles to deliver them. Pyongyang has warned it would consider membership a declaration of war.

Barack Obama spoke at the White House last night, denouncing North Korea's action as "a blatant violation of international law". He said North Korea "will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons".
Justin McCurry reports on North Korea's nuclear test Link to this audio

Japan, which considers itself high on Pyongyang's potential hit list, said it would seek a fresh UN resolution condemning the test.

Gordon Brown described the test as "erroneous, misguided and a danger to the world".

The UN security council talks in New York produced no fresh initiative last night beyond a statement condemning the test. But there were signs that several members were prepared to press for tightened sanctions when the hard work begins today seeking a resolution that would be acceptable to all parties.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, made clear she would urging fresh punitive moves, saying the US would seek "a strong resolution with strong measures".

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-26-voa6.cfm

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to testify Tuesday at her trial for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest, by permitting an American intruder to stay at her home earlier this month.

Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyer Kyi Win told VOA Burmese Service that the Nobel Peace laureate's three co-defendants - her two caretakers and U.S. citizen John Yettaw - will also take the stand. The lawyer says the defense team did not get time to consult with the defendants prior to their testimonies.

Burmese military authorities say they will permit some observers to attend Tuesday's proceedings. Authorities allowed foreign diplomats and some journalists to attend the trial once last Wednesday.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years. Her current six-year term is due to expire Wednesday.

A spokesman for the military government, police Brigadier General Myint Thein, says authorities considered releasing her this week, but canceled the decision after an incident in which an American man swam to her house. The military says the incident violated Aung San Suu Kyi' rules of detention.

Burmese prosecutors on Friday filed official charges against the pro-democracy Nobel Prize laureate. She has pleaded not guilty.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25541785-2703,00.html

MEL Gibson has confirmed his Russian girlfriend is pregnant and admitted he did a "hatchet job" on his marriage to his Australian wife of 28 years.
The actor, in a playful mood and looking relaxed, made the revelations on US late night TV talkshow The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

“This is true. We're gonna have a child,” Gibson said when Leno raised the rumours girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva was pregnant.

The US-born, Australian-raised Oscar winner apparently does not plan to marry 38-year-old Grigorieva, who he said was not responsible for the break-up of his marriage to Robyn.

“Why would you get married twice?” Gibson responded to the marriage question.

Robyn, a former Adelaide dental nurse who has seven children with Gibson, filed for divorce last month and with no pre-nuptial agreement, is expected to get half of the reported $US900 million ($1.15 billion) family fortune.

Gibson said he remains “friends” with Robyn.

“My wife and I, our marriage ended three years ago and we've been separated ever since then,” Gibson said.

“These things happen. It's unfortunate, it's sad, but you know she is an admirable woman - we still got kids together.

“We're friends.”

When Leno probed Gibson about why his marriage failed, Gibson replied: “Look, when it's all said and done, I did a pretty good hatchet job on my marriage myself. I'm to blame.”

With his eighth child on the way, 53-year-old Gibson joked his nickname was now Octo-Mel, playing on the label slapped on controversial Californian single mother Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to eight babies in January.