I heard it through the grapevine

Follow link to YouTube recording.

Watch from 5:12 for the song...

Ooh, I bet you're wondering how I knew

About you plans to make me blue

With some other guy that you knew before.

Between the two of us guys

You know I love you more.

It took me by surprise I must say,

When I found out yesterday.

Don't you know that...

(Chorus:)

I heard it through the grapevine

Not much longer would you be mine.

Oh I heard it through the grapevine,

Oh and I'm just about to lose my mind.

Honey, honey yeah.

I know that a man ain't supposed to cry,

But these tears I can't hold inside.

Losin' you would end my life you see,

'Cause you mean that much to me.

You could have told me yourself

That you love someone else.

Instead...

(Chorus)

People say believe half of what you see,

Son, and none of what you hear.

I can't help bein' confused

If it's true please tell me dear?

Do you plan to let me go

For the other guy you loved before?

Don't you know...

(Chorus)

Honey Honey I know

That you're letting me go

said, "I heard it through the grapvine"

Heard it through the grapevine......

by Marvin Gaye 

(This version performed by the Doug Anthony Allstars)

On wisdom

“The small wisdom is like water in a glass:

clear, transparent, pure.

The great wisdom is like the water in the sea:

dark, mysterious, impenetrable.” 

by Rabindranath Tagore

© Jennifer Phillips

We shook the sky

We collided, you and I.

Together, we soared so high.

I have never known such a ride.

Like rockets, we shook the sky.

We launched ourselves

into space and out of sight - 

amazing, incredible - 

you blew my mind.

Like fireworks, rockets live bright - 

fly so high, light up the night.

Yet fuel's beautiful explosion

blows out too quick...

All too soon, thwarted 

by circumstances beyond our control, 

our rocket burned out too fast - 

floated aimless in the firmament.

Like a supernova - we were luminous

for a while, but in the end 

our flame flickered

burned low, guttered and died.

Our hearts contracted

from the moon’s pull - 

illuminated our path no more.

No longer were we in its thrall.

We turned away, lesson learnt.

Can’t expect fireworks 

when the fuel’s all spent.

No fanfare, no fire, no heat, no eruption.

We chewed on scraps of love - 

with just a sprinkle of ash and soot,

fed our lungs with fire and smoke, 

in the dusted remains of our passion.

We launched ourselves

into space and out of sight.

Our story ends not with fire or fanfare - 

but just a burned out candle in the wind.

Like rockets, we shook the sky

out of sight and into space -

you blew my mind,
once upon a time.

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

Rocket blasting off into space © All About Anything

Burn the garden

Darkness falls

A little sausage

“Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?", here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!” 

― Andy Rooney

In this universe I sing

In this universe I sing

Of uncommon ground

I share a space with you 

As large as I can imagine

or

As small as I can conceive

From enormity to intimacy

Vast as salty seas I have crossed but once

Deep as caves I have explored by touch alone

Higher than echoes shouted by stars 

Turning cartwheels of light in the night sky

As welcome as trees I have named and  climbed

And whose branches close round about me

In spirit of comfort and nurture

As they  lift me skyward to see beyond the gates

As close as whiskers of ideas scratching my imagination

As sharp as an exploring thought  reminding me who I am

Where I have been and where I might go

To countries across the globe and down the lane

Speech  in tongues I could not name

Etching my heart with symbols of loyalty and fealty

To other hearts who share the same deep rushing beat

I do not know you

And yet

If thoughts can travel invisible  lines

Someday, we’ll talk of passions and possibilities

Then I’ll take you to my favorite diner

Where all the waitresses have black tattoos and golden hearts

Where it’s ok to drink the water which springs from

Uncommon ground

In this universe of which I sing

Denise Baxter~Yoder © 3/5/2014

© Denise Baxter~Yoder

Bamboo

Bamboo at Mt. Cootha Botanic Gardens - Brisbane © Jennifer Phillips

Laptop dancin’

This is about a workaholic - works on late at night in the office - 
there must be something going on ... He’s getting frisky with his laptop.


Every night I work late, and I wait

‘till all those office plebs slope home…

Then it’s just me, and the empty office 

and I start to get a little bit excited…

I’ve been using my laptop for hours, 

you’re hot - yeah - been working for me all day.

I shift you on to my lap – Oh, nice and hot.

Yeah, baby - I can feel your electric powers!

Ooh, oooh, ooh! Meeting request!

Just you and me for some laptop action…

C’mon baby – together in the empty office.

Laptop action – Keyboard – you’re the best!

I love the way my fingers feel 

when I slide them across 

your silky smooth plastic contours – 

makes me almost lose control – Oooh, laptop baby!

Oh yeah, baby - gotta schedule next meeting request.

I gotta hot date tonight – me and the keyboard, 

gettin’ in line for some laptop dancing.

Your dancin’ keys sure know how to please.

Microsoft Outlook, look out!

I’m coming for you, baby!

Microsoft, so soft…

Give it to me, baby!

Ooh, oooh, ooh! Meeting request!

Just you and me ‘an some laptop action.

I want to get chancin’

Oooh, ‘an laptop dancin’!

Oh yeah, baby – feel that electricity…

Work it baby! Oh yeah! 

Open your platform on my lap - 

show me that spread-sheet!

Oh yeah, monitor - raise up your shield protector - aah.

Oooh, Excel spreadsheet baby - give me a spread.

Show me your numbers - let me see your figures!

Oh yeah, right there, baby, spread it for me.

I wanna see you open some formulae - 

Let’s get into the groove…

Oooh, algorithms do it for me!

I wanna see your figures move! 

Makin’ some calculations…mmm.

Let’s get jiggy, shake that monitor…

I’ll take your number – sure!

Pop that figure, ‘n gimme some more.

I’m on a hot date tonight – me ‘n the keyboard - 

gettin’ into some laptop dancing.

Your dancin’ keys know how to please.

Oooh, laptop dancin’ – I’m chancin’.

Salesforce - I’ll sing it ‘till I’m hoarse…

I love it in the Cloud!

Give me some CRM service, 

an’ give it to me Loud!

I love how you Excel - 

lay all your spreadsheets open for me and you’re so hot – 

keyboard dancin’ on my lap. Oooh, Microsoft in the office - 

I wanna see your orifice.

Ooh, ooh! Meeting request!

Just you and me ‘n laptop action.

I’m chancin’

Oooh, laptop dancin’.

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

Middle children of history

“We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (1999)

Dancing beneath the moonlight

He loved her without

desperation and needs

and wants.

With his naked soul,

he loved her,

and dreamt

of her clothed

in white dancing

beneath the moonlight

as the stars

grew jealous of the way

she moved.

by Christopher Poindexter

Golden shadows

Follow link to Nate's blog post

Told you I was crazy

As we sat upon the sun

Laughed with everyone

Who passed us by

All you would say was maybe

As I left you on the moon

Gave myself more room

To watch you shine

We’re all gonna shine

Golden shadows in the afternoon

We’re lost in wonder at what we’ve been through

Golden shadows in the afternoon

We’re making love

It’s all we do

All we do

All we do

Told you I was crazy

As we sank into the earth

Found value in our birth

Deep in the ground

All you would say was maybe

Then we began to bloom

Shone brighter as we grew

Up to the clouds

We’re all gonna grow

Golden shadows in the afternoon

We’re lost in wonder at what we’ve been through

Golden shadows in the afternoon

We’re making love

It’s all we do

All we do

All we do

Told you I was crazy

As we danced upon the sky

Shook petals from our eyes

To line the road

All you would say was maybe

And then you showed me why

We’re more than getting by

We’re going home

We’re all going home

by Nate Maingard (with permission)

Controlled crying

© Michael Leunig

Heart-beaten

We fell into a sea of heartbreak...

So much to say, so much left unsaid.

Your words circled like birds inside my head.

Our words collided on the sky

and through our souls a heart-wind blew.

Yet our lands and choices divided us.

Hung up on you, you floated

like a dream through my life

as smoke wafts above a fire.

But this heart-heated kindling

grew too hot, and we had to turn away

from the licking flames.

We managed to cauterise this pain.

We did -  but it still hurts - it pulls.

Like a scar, it'll always be there.

With the cold wind at our backs,

we faced a different future, 

in the winter of our discontent.

But now we can walk forward,

without looking so often back, 

to the land of could, or should've been.

Logic has no place in our shadow-play - 

and I feel that familiar soul-ache 

more rarely as I drift through each day.

An ocean within and an ocean without.

Words without touch are a sunset

shrouded in fog, or a touch of frost.

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

Plumage like fireflies © Jennifer Phillips

Promethean heat
Smoke screens
This Thing

Like a hurricane

Once I thought I saw you

in a crowded hazy bar,

Dancing on the light

from star to star.

Far across the moonbeam

I know that's who you are,

I saw your brown eyes

turning once to fire.

You are like a hurricane

There's calm in your eye.

And I'm gettin' blown away

To somewhere safer

where the feeling stays.

I want to love you but

I'm getting blown away.

I am just a dreamer,

but you are just a dream,

You could have been

anyone to me.

Before that moment

you touched my lips

That perfect feeling

when time just slips

Away between us

on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane

There's calm in your eye.

And I'm gettin' blown away

To somewhere safer

where the feeling stays.

I want to love you but

I'm getting blown away.

You are just a dreamer,

and I am just a dream.

You could have been

anyone to me.

Before that moment

you touched my lips

That perfect feeling

when time just slips

Away between us

on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane

There's calm in your eye.

And I'm gettin' blown away

To somewhere safer

where the feeling stays.

I want to love you but

I'm getting blown away.

by Neil Young

Hangin' by a thread

When I cry, I close my eyes

And every tear falls down inside

And I pray with all my might

that I will find my heart in someone's arms

When I cry, cry

When I cry

When I am sad I think of every awful thing I ever did

Oh When I cry, there is no love,

No there is nothing that can comfort me enough

When I cry,

Cry, cry

The salt inside my body ruins everyone I come close to

My hands are barely holding up my head

I am so tired of looking at my feet

Or all the secrets that I keep

My heart is barely hangin' by a thread

Hangin' by a thread

Oh look at me

At all I've done

I've lost so many things that I so dearly love

I lost my soul

I lost my pride

Oh I lost any hope of having a sweet life

So I cry,

Cry, cry

Oh the salt inside my body ruins everyone I come close to

My hands are barely holding up my head

Oh I'm so tired of looking at my feet

And all the secrets that I keep

My heart is barely hangin' by a thread

Hangin' by a thread

I miss you all

I wish I was with you now

I wish I was.

Jann Arden

Jann Arden © Charla Jones/GetStock

Words

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think"

by Lord Byron (George Gordon)

© Austin Public Library

The girl from Moldova

She was just a girl from Moldova.

Spinning tricks on a dime.

Her thoughts and dreams

broken it seemed, for all time.

They promised her good work.

Passports, money, transfer to London.

Hugged her mother goodbye, 

dropped tears in the dust.

Just a girl from Moldova

trying to make it.

One less mouth to feed.

She didn't know she'd bleed.

Took a ride to the airport

with the man in the van.

Many flat miles ran past

and the rain ran down fast.

Just a girl from Moldova.

He drove her to a house, latched the gate.

The door slammed, sealed her fate.

Men on sofa chairs, stare - staring.

Just a girl from Moldova.

Life spins on a dime.

They really have her over.

They take her passport, ticket, money.

Where's the airport?

What is this place?

Let me go! They do not.

Just a girl from Moldova.

Strip her, put her with some other girls.

Against the wall they hold her.

Take turns and break her.

Just a girl from Moldova.

Life spins on a dime.

They really have her over.

Shut in a room, the clock turns

the hours, the days, the years.

Men come, and come and come.

She claws the wall, the floor, the door.

Just a girl from Moldova.

Life spins on a dime.

They really have her over.

Just a girl from Moldova.

Dreams dust, clouds obscure the moon.

Her eyes trace the carpet's pattern 

as it rolls again - another man's tune.

Sick from misuse, broken doll.

They drive her down a track

in the forest,  way out back, 

and drop her crooked in a rut.

Just a girl from Moldova.

Life spins on a dime.

They really have her over.

Just a girl from Moldova.

A woodsman picks her up.

Takes her to a hospital. 

Her story isn't over.

Months pass, she hardens.

Plans, nursing her hate - 

 snake coils under her heart.

Claws back strength, dream's new.

Just a girl from Moldova.

All the details, etched in her mind.

Sees her plans clear through hate's lens.

Snapped open, no longer blind.

Now she heads up

La Strada International.

Every tormentor, she finds.

Saves her sisters from these animals.

Just a girl from Moldova.

She bites back at those that bit her.

Puts them in jail ... cages for ages.

She really has them over.

Just a girl from Moldova.

Life spins on a dime.

She really has them over.

Just a girl from Moldova.

Life spins on a dime.

She really has them over.

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

(Poem loosely based on "Sex Traffic" (2004) and "The Girl from Ipanema"

Lotto Carpet Design Usak16th C. Museum of Islamic Art © World Imaging 2009

Rebel diamonds

"The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun - 

when you read my mind."

by the Killers in "Read my mind"

Guinea fowl plumage © Jennifer Phillips

Snow day

Days

Stories

You

Seem to accumulate 

Like the snow

Bit by bit 

Flake by flake

Time

Details

Your presence

Slowly builds

Until everything is covered 

In a blanket

Of years.

Of truth. 

Of new.

by Weak Perfection (with permission)

Snow Covered Tree - Copyright Free Images

Media vita

I have been scored by the sands of time;

They have seared me in their running.

They have fissured my eyes and cratered my brow;

They have eaten inappropriate openings into my heart;

They have scratched my very soul.

And so I come to the present hour,

Harrowed and hacked by the hourglass,

The winds of change whistling through my ragged apertures,

As I explore myself for substance

And touch only wounds.

by David Singleton

Skin-terrain © Jennifer Phillips

Underneath the flowers

Just met, we really like each other...

We run from this dull party - escape.

Catch our breath behind a tree, and breathing fast, 

imagine our hidden love take shape.

You lead me down to a secret place -

a flowered bower, where angels must have trod -

petals scatter thickly across our path...

Seems we've entered the abode of a forest god.

I look into your eyes, crave the entrapment I see.

Reflected stars shine deep in their pools.

I want to plumb your depths, you're yet a mystery.

We lie down now, under a heavily blossomed tree.

Underneath the flowers,

inhaling their scent

stealing kisses in the night

we're occupied for hours.

Your scent is musk

and I drink you in like wine,

down beneath the flowers,

you caress me so fine.

The moon casts a silver sheen

over your smooth skin.

I trace your contours,

while you explore my ravine.

We taste salt kisses, merged together,

in this time out of time, and out of place

Dreaming together, we're stolen from the night...

A smile lingers across your face.

You employ all your power

as the petals float down in showers,

hidden in our blossomed bower

I ride upon your tower.

We undulate like waves

underneath the flowers

until we're spent.

Our stolen time is Heaven-sent.

Yet all good things must end...

We see the gleam of dawn

pushing at the edge of night.

Brush away petals, and sated, we yawn.

Entwined then, wend our way slowly back -

leisurely walk the petalled path,

as the moon tracks toward the dawn -

tracing our last minutes over memory's horizon.

Underneath the flowers,

we were occupied for hours.

Your scent was musk

and I drank you in like wine,

down beneath the flowers,

you caressed me so fine.

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

Cherry blossoms at night © Jennifer Phillips

Canberra

Canberra from Arboretum © Jennifer Phillips

Black 'n white

When I born, I Black,

When I grow up, I Black,

When I go in Sun, I Black,

When I scared, I Black,

When I sick, I Black,

And when I die, I still black...

And you White fella,

When you born, you Pink,

When you grow up, you White,

When you go in Sun, you Red,

When you cold, you Blue,

When you scared, you Yellow,

When you sick, you Green,

And when you die, you Gray...

And you calling me Coloured ???

by Unknown

Black 'n white © Jennifer Phillips

Like a rubber band

You came into my life, 

stretched me like a rubber band.

Extended my boundaries, 

tested my limits

And I liked it...

I wanted to know about you, 

all about you

and I liked you...

Yes, I liked you very much...

I think I loved you...

I wanted you to love me too

So I let you pull me...

I bent over backward

to show you treasures within...

Oh, yes - you just reached in.

Took what you wanted...

And I liked it

I liked you pulling me...

We were two.

You pulled, I pushed.

I stretched, you didn't.

You had me on your line.

And for you it was just fine...

Pushed me to my limit

but I didn't snap.

I was taut, stretched tight

in your grip...

And I liked it!

Your pull on me - 

You pulled on me  -

I liked it there..

I did, you gave me more - 

'till I was sore...

I was stretched taut but I didn't snap - 

Not then, not yet.

I stretched up so far, 

but I couldn't reach your bar.

It kept moving higher

but I didn't snap - 

Not then, not yet...

I extended out 

to meet your desires

and fit the shape of your wishes...

You pulled me this way, 
and teased me that.

My edges started to fray,

because I started to think 

that it was all for you

only for you...

I was stretched so thin

I was out on a line...

I couldn't see me, 

and it was not fine.

I'd pulled myself all out of shape

for you, for you, all for you.

So far to reach your moving bar...

Pushed me to my limit

but I didn't snap.

I was taut, stretched tight

in your grip...

And I liked it!

Your pull on me - 

You pulled on me  -

I liked it there..

I did, you gave me more

'till I was sore...

I woke up one day, to find 

I could not extend any more - 

not one little bit..

Malleable no more, 

I no longer had any core.

You just let go when you saw

I couldn't go that far.

I didn't snap at the release 

of your weight, your control,

but bent out of shape

I was, worn and frayed

and I realised that I 

should not have stayed 

in your thrall, so long.

I made myself small, for you.

I made myself big, for you.

I described circles in the air, for you

and you didn't see.

You couldn't really see

ME.

Pushed me to my limit

but I didn't snap.

I was taut, stretched tight

in your grip...

And I liked it!

Your pull on me - 

You pulled on me  -

I liked it there..

I did, you gave me more

'till I was sore...

So I didn't snap, I wouldn't snap.

I snapped back

and I flew. You see. 

You knew, deep in your heart,

you knew.

I flew because of you.

You stretched me to my limit

but I slipped off your finger - 

Oh, so gently, but I took off

with such power.

Not your puppet any more...

And I flew

through the wind ... it blew me free.

And where I went, you couldn't follow.

And the view was great!

I put everything out along my line for you,

looking for some kind of sign

that you loved me,

that you really loved me....

You stretched me to my limit

but I snapped off with such power.

Not your puppet any more...

And I flew

through the wind ... it lifted me free.

And where I soared, you couldn't follow.

For us there was no tomorrow.

Pushed me to my limit

but I didn't snap.

I was taut, stretched tight

in your grip...

And I liked it!

Your pull on me - 

You pulled on me  -

I liked it there..

I did, you gave me more

'till I was sore...

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

Rubber band © Jennifer Phillips

Cupcakes

Cupcakes © Jennifer Phillips

For me! © Jennifer Phillips