• About

Candia Comes Clean

~ Candid cultural comments from the Isles of Wonder

Tag Archives: Amazon

The Loneliest Man in the World (Sestina)

08 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by Candia in Environment, Nature, Poetry, Social Comment, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

agribusinesses, Amazon, habitat loss, human diversity, illegal loggers, North Rondonia, pistoleros, sarampion, The Man of the Hole, yams

The harbingers of the highway, strange men –

pistoleros? – murdered his tribe.  Alone,

he raises maize and yams.  He is the last

to roam 4,000 hectares; to survive

sarampion, flu, smallpox and the loss

of relationships, family and friends.

 

The agribusinesses have been no friends

to Amazonian rainforests.  Men

decimate the land; their gain is loss.

This man has lived for twenty years alone.

With four, or five, some other tribes survive,

but human diversity will not last.

 

When the illegal loggers have, at last,

razed every tree to the forest floor, friends

of the indigenous will not survive.

Stripping rare plants that might have healed men

will leave us with dilemmas, all alone,

to face health crises; scientific loss.

 

In today’s world we experience loss –

loss of our souls; our languages.  The last

man to roam North Rondonia alone

at least felt what it was once to have friends.

He knew the co-operation of men

was vital for tribe members to survive.

 

Without his wisdom, how can we survive?

No man is an island.  All sense the loss.

Our planet is affected – even men

who murdered his kin.  The effects will last,

impacting their families and their friends.

Doubtless their guilt should not be borne alone.

 

Corporations do not erode alone.

Immunity itself will not survive.

Time’s arrow can pierce foes and even friends.

The Man of the Hole, who suffered great loss,

knows his breath will be surrendered at last,

but he holds that in common with all men.

 

Friends of our earth, how shall we survive loss

of habitats and species?  Fellow men,

look at this last man.  He’s not alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Who Do I Think I Am?

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by Candia in Humour, Literature, Music, Suttonford

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Amazon, dementia buddy, Hilary Boyd, Seurat, Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George

Tiger-Lily decided to visit her grandmother, Ginevra, to interview her for a school History and Raising Self-Esteem project.  The synthesising thread that suffused the two areas was genealogical research and the children had been given the title: Who Do I Think I Am?

Tiger-Lily’s mother, Carrie, had often said to her daughter:  And who do you think you are, young lady?  However, the question had been given a different emphasis.

Magda, Ginevra’s carer, answered the door.  Shhh! she said.  Come into the kitchen and have a …hot chocolate.  She had nearly offered Tiger a gin and tonic, but remembered in time that this was inappropriate.  I’m a little worried about your grandmother.  She has been in the study all day, on the computer.  She hasn’t moved for six hours.  At first I thought she might be-you know…. Magda trailed off, not wishing to involve a teenager in too much anxiety.

What are you up to, gran? asked Tiger-Lily, pushing open the study door and spilling some of the hot chocolate in the process.  Oops!  She spooned out some of the melting mini-marshmallows and ate them, to leave a little more room in the mug.

Cover of

Cover of Sunday in the Park with George

Oh, hello, said Ginevra, not even turning round to greet her granddaughter.  I’m busy writing my e-book called Sunday in the Park with George.  It’s about an eighty year old woman who meets a man on a mobility scooter and is knocked head over heels by him.  Sometimes they feed the ducks together.  It’s..

…raunchy gran-lit, said Tiger.  But you can’t use that title, gran.

Why not? said Ginevra indignantly.

Because it’s the name of a Sondheim musical.

Oh, really?  I thought it was something to do with that spotty painter.

Yes, Seurat, said Tiger who had seen his paintings in a book in the Art block.

Well, he’s dead, so the copyright won’t apply.  Maybe I could change it to Sunday in the Park with Graham, Gordon or Gregory.  Yes, Gregory sounds okay.  Anyway, there’s a woman called Hilary Boyd who gets 20 pence every time someone downloads her e-book.  Amazon might put me on promotion.  I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to do this.  Mary Wesley was the same: she didn’t publish till she was past seventy.

Twenty pence won’t buy you too many Dewlaps, gran.  I don’t want to discourage you, but..  Privately, Tiger thought that old people doing it was disgusting and writing about doing it was even more reprehensible..  But old to Tiger was anyone over the age of twenty.

You’ll be singing a different tune when I’m on some programme with that woman Mariella Jockstrap, said Ginevra determinedly.  Anyway, what did you want?

I wanted to ask you about our roots.  It’s for my school project.

Ginevra spun round on the swivel chair.  There was nothing she liked better than to be the centre of attention.

Magda, get me the photo albums, will you?  Oh, and a Dewlap, darling.

Tiger settled in for the long haul.

When I married your grandfather it was really on the rebound, she began.

Gran wouldn’t need a dementia buddy- she had superb recall.

Wait, gran.  I’m just going to record you on my phone. Tiger could see an A* in the bag.  She just hoped there wouldn’t be too much information.

  

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

My name is Candia. Its initial consonant alliterates with “cow” and there are connotations with the adjective “candid.” I started writing this blog in the summer of 2012 and focused on satire at the start.

Interspersed was ironic news comment, reviews and poetry.

Over the years I have won some international poetry competitions and have published in reputable small presses, as well as reviewing and reading alongside well- established poets. I wrote under my own name then, but Candia has taken me over as an online persona. Having brought out a serious anthology last year called 'Its Own Place' which features poetry of an epiphanal nature, I was able to take part in an Arts and Spirituality series of lectures in Winchester in 2016.

Lately I have been experimenting with boussekusekeika, sestinas, rhyme royale, villanelles and other forms. I am exploring Japanese themes at the moment, my interest having been re-ignited by the recent re-evaluations of Hokusai.

Thank you to all my committed followers whose loyalty has encouraged me to keep writing. It has been exciting to meet some of you in the flesh- in venues as far flung as Melbourne and Sydney!

Copyright Notice

© Candia Dixon Stuart and Candiacomesclean.wordpress.com, 2012-2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Candia Dixon Stuart and candiacomesclean.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Recent Posts

  • Sunlight/Moonlight
  • Black Barn with Poppies
  • Pink Telegraph Pole with Wolf Moon
  • Dodo and Roses
  • Warning

Archives

  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012

Categories

  • Animals
  • Architecture
  • art
  • Arts
  • Autumn
  • Bible
  • Celebrities
  • Community
  • Crime
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Family
  • Fashion
  • Film
  • gardens
  • History
  • Home
  • Horticulture
  • Hot Wings
  • Humour
  • Industries
  • James Bond films
  • Jane Austen
  • Language
  • Literature
  • Media
  • Music
  • mythology
  • Nature
  • News
  • Nostalgia
  • Olympic Games
  • Parenting
  • Personal
  • Philosophy
  • Photography
  • Poetry
  • Politics
  • Psychology
  • Relationships
  • Religion
  • Romance
  • Satire
  • Sculpture
  • short story
  • short story
  • Social Comment
  • Sociology
  • Sport
  • Spring
  • St Swithun's Day
  • Summer
  • Summer 2012
  • Supernatural
  • Suttonford
  • television
  • Tennis
  • Theatre
  • Travel
  • urban farm
  • White Horse
  • winter
  • Writing

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

acrylic acrylic painting acrylics Alex Salmond Andy Murray Ashmolean Australia Autumn barge Blenheim blossom Border Terrier Boris Johnson Bourbon biscuit boussokusekika Bradford on Avon Brassica British Library Buscot Park charcoal Charente choka clerihew Cotswolds David Cameron dawn epiphany Fairford France FT funghi Genji George Osborne Gloucestershire Golden Hour gold leaf Hampshire herbaceous borders Hokusai husband hydrangeas Jane Austen Kelmscott Kirstie Allsopp Lechlade Murasaki Shikibu mushrooms National Trust NSW Olympics Oxford Oxfordshire Pele Tower Pillow Book Prisma reflections Roger Federer Sculpture Shakespeare sheep Spring Spring flowers still life Suttonford Tale of Genji Thames Thames path Theresa May Victoria watercolour William Morris willows Wiltshire Winchester Cathedral winter

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,576 other followers

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Candia Comes Clean
    • Join 1,576 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Candia Comes Clean
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: