In recent days, a politician named immigration as a key issue for debate, citing “Australian values” as a key determinant of who to let in and who to keep out. I have never yet heard a politician explain what “Australian values” are. They bang on ’bout values in this town — like they’re etched inContinue reading “Values on the Verge”
Category Archives: Personal
Here lies lies!
Lisa invites the dVerse community to take a line from the song “Bury Me,” by Alejandro Escovedo . The task is to write a 144-word “prosery” piece using the exact phrase Bury me with lies I told. I am delighted and somewhat energised to rise to the challenge! Bury me with lies I told, asContinue reading “Here lies lies!”
The Train We Can’t Board
Melissa from Mom With a Blog is our dVerse host right now. She is immersing us in Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues, trusting it will inspire our muse. Here’s my melancholy effort. Please don’t counsel me, I’m trying to sit within the skin of another! He came to spring captives freeThat young rabbi from GalileeBut maybeContinue reading “The Train We Can’t Board”
SMILE
Smile! – What if I don’t feel like it?Write a poem about it – a quadrille – exactly forty-four words!The rebel arises within me.So many fake smiles crowd memory’s vaultConcealing assassins’ intent.Besides, I have a missing front toothMy smile appears uncouth! (c) Dennis Ryle, January 2026 De Jackson (aka WhimsyGizmo) points out it’s the firstContinue reading “SMILE”
ABCalling
A New Year venture awaitsBegging towards taking up penCalling projects forth from fevered mind Dickens started it allEnergising my adolescent Curiosity ShopFanning flames that fired imagination Great Expectations glowing with anticipationHard Times intervenedI reluctantly laid pen aside Just as I had given up all hopeKilburn school opened an opportunityLeaning into new learning Mastering turns of phraseNeverContinue reading “ABCalling”
Traffic Lights
Dark, grey, tinted, large and ominous, the plate reads 01DRAGON, its gaze catching mine in the mirror of my headlamps. This minotaur lurks at a red light, where the chaos of the unfinished Stirling Mitchell Freeway Interchange— labyrinth or maze?— frustrates those who travel, longing for a clear path, avoiding Innaloo rat-runs, steering through roadworks,Continue reading “Traffic Lights”
Epiphany Haibun
Stranger Things hints at dimensions that are closer than our own breathing. The mood is dark, sinister and compelling. The world as we thought we knew it is transforming. Thin places once hinted at glorious light. Now they also open hazards, concurrently concealing and revealing the dread of the yawning abyss. Yet another dimension, moreContinue reading “Epiphany Haibun”
Let us choose to imitate those who heal.
In the days after the Bondi massacre, Australia found itself suspended between shock and solidarity. The beach, usually a symbol of ease, openness, and shared life, became a place marked by absence. Towels lay where people had fled. Flowers appeared where lives had been taken. Silence settled where laughter had been only hours before. RenéContinue reading “Let us choose to imitate those who heal.”
Getting crafty
Today’s poetics invitation from dVerse – write about craft in any poetic form. Perhaps a simple haiku will do. Crafted a fine craftIt’s only an Aldi kitInstructions missing! (c) Dennis Ryle November 2025
Puff the Tragic Wagon
“Let’s take it for a whirl,” he said, |that rusty old ute behind the shed. Its tyres were flat, its paint was all flaked – but still, it roared when gently waked. We named it Puff, with dragon flair, and drove it laughing everywhere. (c) Dennis Ryle November 2025 dVerse challenge – compose a quadrille – a poem ofContinue reading “Puff the Tragic Wagon”
Wondering Pilgrim 