Selected poems
Breaking through one dimensional seeing
i am a dinosaur
old fogie off with pixies
poor old dodder-bloke!
come see different
i grow wings and fly up high
telling my song-story
one dimensionals
you would put me in my box?
i give you the 'bird'
Walking the Moonee Ponds Creek
To you Sister-Mother Earth
Deep and expansive thanks
for the gift of Place — of this Place.
Of trees and special plantings
Of water running between steep banks
Of birds and friendly dogs
Of humans seeking a gentle moment of joy.
Here the sacred sacrament of everyday life.
And here the meeting with you — Divine Other
in the knowing of deep resonance and gentleness
that is remaking this particular life.
A life able to percolate another way of seeing
alive with the imaginations of communities that dare to believe.
Contemplating the City
(Point and Counterpoint)
(1) City of Freedom and Joy
(Haiku Form)
Find this place of joy
Simplicity of forming
Freedom deep in soul
Country at home here
Bucolic in the urban
Counterpoint shared true
Community reigns
Minds meet in fraternity
Convivial life
Hope and full making
Dancing with trees and water
Rhythmic creating
Food wonders found here
Vocational creations
Nourishment of heart
Conjured transformings
Futures are made here and now
Wide sharp horizons
Discovering grace
Beauty in remembering
Delectable NEW
Conjoined moments full
Becomings remaking minds
Lives fully OPEN
(2) Anomie Central
(Musings on the Abiding City)
An ambiguous 'Thank You' city
in providing place for me.
Place to hide away from any face to face reality!
Hidey-holes — the most effective of places
to hide mySELF away from myself!
Here in our safe little boxes
Of sleeping
Of thinking
Of — anonymity!
You are here — are you?
I know you — perhaps!
What keeps you here?
Strangers living an intimate proximity!
What did you say your name is?
NO DON'T TELL ME!! — I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!!
I will NEVER WANT TO KNOW — anymore!
ANOMIE CENTRAL!!
ALIENATION JUNCTION!!
Impounded within fences
Here in this Urban BLACK HOLE
that pulls everything into itself
and let's nothing out!
Here we are then! — finding our Centre!
Secret to ourselves
and certainly to each other!
Here feeding our arking brains
with the mediocrities of an impossible 24/7 real!
Feeding our bodies
on mass-produced extrusions!
Feeding our brains
in mass-produced mind-factories!
Filling our pockets
with mass-accumulated junk bonds
that will produce nothing
beyond empty promises!
So — whoever you just might be
I am not saying GOODBYE
because we will never say HALLO!!
Jumping Deeply Inward (Intimate Ecstacy)
(On Reading Dorothea Soelle on Mysticism and Resistance')
Come know the RAGE OF THIS VERY MOMENT
and in so doing know the ecstacy of Joy
beyond any thought!
Step out of this everyday life-prison
to jump deep into the NOW!
Be immersed in an ecstacy of love!,
Agape! — Eros! — Phileo!
Love so inclusive of its many dimensions
Love leaving behind wordings no matter how deep.
Love which is itself — and beyond itself!
Discover the grounding
that speaks of our base for becoming
Discover the undergrounding
that whispers the tectonic rock-strata
of our oneness with the cosmos!
Be drunk in the Mystery of Infinite Wonder!
John Cranmer lives in Boronia on the outer edge of Melbourne. He is as a Uniting Church Minister (somewhat retired) and, in collaboration with Denham Grierson, has recently produced a collection of poems, Walking on Bones.