Into the Mouth of Nightmares...

Given Covid and an extensive Sydney lockdown, perhaps this is a good time to post this. 

I also have a friend in Durban who had a very frightening experience this week with the riots.

This was written a decade ago in 2011. 

Finally going through a large cache of poems for possible future books.

I like this one but not enough for a book. Worth sharing though, so here it is.

The Wider World as it is Known

March 25^th 2011 (Cairns)

 

Dredged up and dripping

Into the mouth of Nightmares

Days bleak and nights too bright

With the blinding tunnel

Store of Childhood fears

That were never really

Left Behind.

 

Struggle Bleary Eyed back into the

Program

Because the Rules

Must be adhered to

And the Masters are Demanding

The alternatives

Promise Nothing

Because it doesn’t pay to question

Or Mildly Ponder

In case the Truth isn’t

What it was understood to Be.

 

The Years Tumble Down

Precious, Fragile

And less Remarkable than the Last

And the Wondering settled in a long time ago

When would the Results begin to show?

 

All the Boxes were ticked

Fought against and then conformed to

According to the Protocol

All is as it Should

The Coffers are Filling

But it doesn’t feel good

And all subsequent self-deception

Has the Shakes.

 

When it comes

It’s during a Period of Tenacity and Success

When doubts had finally succumbed

The House crumbles

The Cards Scatter

And the Entire Life Plan that was

Germinating before Birth

Has Evaporated

Leaving but a Hollow Residue

With all imagined trepidations

Come to Actuality

 

Despite all Death and Disaster and Gloom

The World has never seemed so user friendly.

Will the realisation

Come to pass?

Coupled with the deliciously bitter

Irony

That the only way out of the chaos

Is with no plan at all.

 

Perhaps it's more pertinent than ever.

What do you think it relates to?

No wrong answers. It's whatever you want it to be.

I was wrong about this poem. It's quite good.

https://anthonyjlangford.wixsite.com/writer

 

More Poetry

Have a good week.

Say hi if you feel like it. Isolation isn't good for anyone. Including me.

And if you enjoyed this, please share. I really appreciate any help getting the word out. 🌝

Street Scapes - Sydney 2018

I began taking photos with my phone of street-scapes in 2018, inspired by the obscure photographer, Vivian Maier (see my post on her), who took random street shots in the 1950's with no one realising she was taking a shot and no one seeing any of her photos until long after she had died.

Similar concept. It may look ordinary now but what it may look like to people in 50 years time?  The aim was to reach 100. I put this video together not long after. I can't recall how many of the 100 made it in.
Hope you enjoy it. A little snapshot in time. Pre-Corona.

Featuring Inner Sydney including Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, the City, Circular Quay, Ashfield, Summer Hill, Burwood, Dulwich Hill and more.

M ISSED - A Short Film 14 years in the Making

A 7 year old girl waits to be collected after school. Nobody comes. What happened to them? What did she do next?

What happens to her?

Starring Tilly, in her first role.

(Film at bottom of this page)

Background; Why 14 years?

My Last short film, Irons, took many months to make, a huge amount of work, stress and five years worth of savings. I was hoping for some sort of career opportunity out of it. Had I been living in L.A., I might have had one. I was working in News at Channel 10. I showed someone in the Drama Department. Nothing happened. I applied for a bunch of Festivals. It got into two, one in South Africa. 

I was angry with Sydney Film Festival. I had made the film, hoping to get into it. I made the film shorter that it should have been to get into it. (Under 15mins). A mistake. It wanted to be longer. I've since re-edited parts of it (in 2011) but the original scenes are fixed and it's too late. 
They broke their own rules to screen Harvey Krumpet, an animation that had been doing well. That peed me off, so I wrote to the Entertainment section of the Daily Telegraph. They printed it. I got some satisfaction from that. Don't pick mine, that's fine but don't go changing your own rules to suit yourselves. 

Something that big, requires a lot of input. Literally 50-60 people worked on it. The bigger the project the harder it is to control, especially if most aren't getting paid. Inevitably, many compromises are made. I must bear the brunt of it though as I was ultimately the one in charge. I was happy with about 50%. Maybe 60% on a good day.

From there on, I decided to concentrate on writing, and began writing my first novel later that same year, 2004. I could create whatever I wanted, without budgetary constraints, and have total control over my universe. And to be honest, I found Directing extremely stressful. I enjoyed editing and the writing the most.

And so went the next dozen years. Many novels, stories and poetry were created. Something I returned to, in a way, as I began writing stories at ten.

I continued to make small videos in the way of Video Poetry and Music style videos and Family videos. And I had a daughter. All of that takes up your time. I had a job and was a step father too. God, no wonder I'm tired.

Come early 2018, I decided I wanted to make a little film. So small that I would make all of it myself and have total control. I did'nt want Irons to be my last film. And you know? I'm pretty happy with it. And I had an actor whom I could work with. That's always a positive. She did good. Especially as the film progresses. It was shot mostly in order.

Budget? Around $400, compared to $35,000 of Irons. I submitted it to a bunch of small Festivals, which is why I had to wait. Then I was concentrating on releasing my book, A Refugees Rage in 2019. It got into one Festival in LA.

And now it has life. Enjoy. Please share the video if you can. It's the 'Little film that could.'

Watch MISSED  on Vimeo.

MISSED Now on IMDB HERE - If you are able, a Rating would be awesome.

See IRONS and other Short Films Here.