Category: Writing

A beach holiday in winter is a special joy. Just five nights of bracing, salty wind, gazing out to the horizon and admiring the hardy souls out on their boards is real renewal. We have had mini breaks mainly in the east, closer to home, but decided to brave it to the west side of the bay and hit the surf coast. We chose Bells Beach for our stay, feeling that as a world-renowned venue for surfing competitions, there must be some waves to watch. We would explore the Surf Coast in low season!


As always, the further we get from home, the more we relax into uninterrupted conversations and comfortable silences with a background of ABC FM classic. Going east, we are usually in the country within minutes. This western adventure was more challenging, with a route taking us an hour to the CBD and then out the other side.

The first decision, and a good one, was to choose ‘No tolls’ in Google maps. It only added a few minutes and saved us $37 on the return trip – that’s a fish and chips meal! More than that, it took us through suburbs we don’t always see, including a lovely drive by Albert Park Lake before we finally hit the freeways. The western side is now an incredible new labyrinth of roads, and by the time we reached the services at the start of the towering Westgate Bridge, we needed lunch. It was my first experience of a Pieface purchase – actually a very nice pie with free sauce (it’s funny how a small sachet of tomato sauce felt so generous).

Bypassing Geelong reminded me of our frequent trips in my childhood to see family there. It was a different drive then that went right through Werribee with its famous stinky smell (we would see how long we could hold our breath), and then the long approach through Corio industrial area. On the way home, we would buy chips (couldn’t afford fish for eight people) and make them last all the way home. This time, however, we sailed around the edge at 100kph, gazing at the new developments on the fringes.

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Although haiku has changed with modern times, it originated in Japan in the 17th century as a reaction to the elaborate poetry of the time.

Classic haiku is written with seventeen syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern, which means that every word is important. It was usually connected to a season (known as a kigo) or a little moment that evokes an emotional response. It aims to ‘express much and suggest more’ and features simplicity, intensity and directness – a bit like a bonsai in words. Focusing on nature, these short form poems aim to include a kireji, or ‘cutting word’ that is an invitation to be surprised or to reflect.

Peter’s latest exhibition, Bella Italia, was held at the Oak Hill Gallery in Mornington, Victoria, in February 2025. It beautifully captured the memories of our incredible trip to Italy in 2023, visiting Sicily and Tuscany. (You can see my travel blog from then https://jeanettewoods.com/2023/08/ready-set-fly-europe-23-1/#more-739). His images inspired me to write for each painting, and, for the first time, we exhibited together: a fusion of paint and words, Italy and Japan! Those who visited the exhibition felt that the combination of each oil painting with a 17 word poem evoked new multi-faceted perspectives to the experience. These are some of the pieces from the exhibition. (Some are still available for sale. If you are interested, contact Peter for a catalogue at petersbwoods@gmail.com)

Sunset, San Quirico, Tuscany

Perfect orange orb

Slides behind the evening hills

Gone except for gilded touch.

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Human nature has been sold short. Humans have a higher nature which includes the need for meaningful work, for responsibility, for creativeness, for being fair and just, for doing what is worthwhile and for preferring to do it well. (Abraham Maslow)

My current writing commission has taken me into the world of work and welfare, and it has been quite a dive into the deep end. Westgate Community Initiatives Group (WCIG) has 38 years of history, and as it looks to future directions, wants to capture its origins: how does its DNA from the past shape and inform its current form and vision?

With a change of leadership, and emerging from the challenges of Covid-19, WCIG is searching for its stories. ‘Strategy story’ is a well-known business tool for exploring the past to inform the future, and that is the essence of my commission. As part of the project, WCIG wants a book written that will capture the origins of the organisation, trace its history and developments and highlight the values that have remained over the years that drive it today. Just a small project!

WCIG is a community-based, not-for-profit organisation committed to improving lives through practical responses to unemployment and disadvantage, and is one of many employment services competing for government contracts and partnerships that will provide openings for people who find it hard to get a job. There are all sorts of reasons for this: health, discontinued employment experience, lack of qualifications, mental challenges, physical disabilities, language challenges and age and many more. These factors all make it more difficult to find meaningful jobs.

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It’s an honour to have a poem selected for this anthology, hot off the press from Ginninderra Press (the publisher of ‘A Voice for Veronica’).

This collection had its beginnings in the shame, sadness and disbelief that was felt by so many after the result of the Voice referendum in 2023. The poems passionately express those reactions and unflinchingly explore some of the truths about Australia and its history, that, if they had been widely known, might have led to a different result. It is hoped that the readers will find solace, inspiration and hope in the pages that follow. Stephen Matthews, editor.

My poem, ‘Four Generations’, reflects my perspective on generational legacy and where I sit in history. I leave my beautiful and very smart grandchildren a mix of hope and sadness.

Four Generations

You were my gentle grandad

I was spoilt and loved, the first female of your line

Quietly spoken grower of delicate gladioli

You named one after me

Companioned by your loyal springer spaniel

But never told me about Fromelles

The horror of your war

Just grew sweet strawberries.

You were my upright father

Brilliant but Depression deprived

Lived for service and duty

Pressured night study late in life broke your health

I think you loved me.

I am still living and loved; married

Have played, planted and bought houses

Studied, travelled, written books and made music

Flourished in my female way

Gathered my grandchildren around me

Some say I am a lucky boomer.

Dear granddaughter, finished school, finding your way

Tossing the dark curls bestowed by my genes

Driving a car to university

Free to choose your life or even gender

Inheriting a broken beautiful world I leave you

with love and some sorrow..

Jeanette Woods ©️ 2024

https://www.ginninderrapress.com.au/store.php?product/page/3175/Stephen+Matthews+%28editor%29+%2F+Telling+Australia%27s+Truth

Where is the sweet sound of grace?

Not just an act of grace or simple gratuity

But a perfumed, pervasive grace note

Adding lightness to life’s grinding song of lament.

Screens filled with sadness

The media serving dark news with our dinner

Falling like a weighted blanket on conversations

Loaded words driving people apart

Sowing distrust between us

Insidious weeds that choke conversations

Virus-like stealing our health

Our ungrace sucks our very life

And is exhausting.

Grace defies explanation

Best conveyed in looks and hugs

Gifts or choosing to be silent

Acts of love that cross divides

Costing the giver dearly

But in acceptance are free.

Acts that melt away disgrace, abuse and shame

That spread like soothing oil

And precious perfume.

Acts that break the rules

Gratified to find a lover’s love languages

Gracious love that blesses others

And returns with interest to the givers.

Relationships not regulations

Saving grace.

Servant Babette used all her fortune

Creating a generous feast

Exotic foods that cost her, sourced from afar

Prepared with hospitable love and labour

For those who came.

Opening the way for grace to enter

Changing the village

As only grace can transform.

We sit at a table prepared just for us

Oil slathered on our heads and feet,

Forever.

JW December 2023

Back in the land of schnitzel and strudel! We are working our way back north after six glorious weeks in Italy, this time via the Black Forest region in Germany as we return to Frankfurt.

Our arrival at the station in Freiburg was so easy. I was still looking around for the way out off the platform and realised we were on the street, with taxies right in front of us- unpacking in our hotel no time. It turned out that almost everything in Freiburg was easy. The exception was the language as we only have a few words of German; in retrospect, we had enough Italian to get ourselves around and miss it already.

Every place we stay has its pros and cons, so I try to focus on the good things. The Fourside Hotel in Freiburg is a new chain hotel, further out of town, very clean and shiny, comfy bed, very quiet (we sleep in late here), and has a fantastic large shower, complete with a huge picture of a lady (a local legend) in it! Although a bit of a way from the action centre, it is opposite a massive supermarket and has a tram stop out front. All things to like.

What a beautiful, green city is Freiburg! Trees and gardens everywhere, flourishing flower boxes on the streets and balconies, and forested hills on all sides of town. Tidy, well signed and no rubbish anywhere. Neat blocks of apartments in our area, painted in various combinations of colours. Lots of bikes and dedicated paths (have to look both ways twice to avoid being run down) and a fantastic sustainable and reliable public transport system.

Having seen the weather forecast, we were up and out the first morning to make the most of the last predicted sunny day. Always drawn to heights and cable cars, we pored over the transport map for a way to get to Shauinslandbahn – the world’s longest circular cable car to the top of the mountain. It looked doable – Tram 2 and Bus 21 here we come!

It took five kind Germans to help us find the stop, the tram and buy tickets. It is a bit frustrating not to be able to read information. A friendly young woman at the stop assisted us first, and it turned out that she was going to Brisbane the very next week to do her PhD in chemistry!

Even after we were heading the right way, a gentleman saw us looking at the tram map and asked if we needed help. One lady even grabbed a high school student and told him to help us as she didn’t speak English. So kind! In fact, whenever we look at our map, someone asks us if we need assistance.

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