Pick Up the Pearl

Home > Other > Pick Up the Pearl > Page 4
Pick Up the Pearl Page 4

by Pat McGowan

express superlatives, straight from the core.

  haiku homage

  to the yi jing

  house of qián (the creative)

  1 qián

  guided by heaven

  you can handle the power

  give it all you’ve got

  44 gòu

  first hints of darkness

  I meet them as if followed

  by the black of night

  33 tún

  a backwards movement

  to take a safe position

  and launch an attack

  12 pĭ

  not much happening

  as inferiors ascend

  I guard my true worth

  20 guān

  we can see afar

  astride a wooden platform

  and also be seen

  23 bō

  fruit falling to earth

  breaks open with a thud

  the seeds remain whole

  35 jìn

  sun above the earth

  rising easily and swiftly

  enlightening all

  14 dà yŏu

  realise your dreams

  as stars in the night sky shine

  human achievement

  house of kăn (the abysmal)

  29 kăn

  danger all around

  can you play the ferryman

  till the shore is reached

  60 jié

  this bountiful life!

  and oh, the different forms

  always dressed in forms

  3 tún

  in the beginning

  when chaos reigns all about

  work on the essence

  63 jìjì

  we’re really cooking

  as the pot bubbles away

  on this endless task

  49 gè

  in revolutions

  execution is the key

  without losing hearts

  55 fēng

  with light in your heart

  and the way of good measure

  you have abundance

  36 míng yí

  dark winter nights

  I kindle the inner light

  with sparks here and there

  7 shī

  ready to attack

  a powerful army waits

  hidden in the grass

  house of gĕn (keeping still)

  52 gĕn

  a sobering thought

  we must scale the mountain

  step by step, alone

  22 fèn

  a small fire below

  can reveal the whole mountain

  in all its beauty

  26 dà chŭ

  within these mountains

  stores of heavenly treasures

  let’s share what we have

  41 sŭn

  more to the top

  is well and good for some, but

  it weakens the base

  38 kúi

  two sisters at war

  biting, scratching and kicking

  under the same roof

  10 lü

  with right intention

  treading on the tiger’s tail

  will cause you no harm

  61 zhōng fú

  the unknown force acts

  as wind blows across water

  -a truth to live by?

  53 jiàn

  gently and firmly

  trees growing on a mountain

  no sudden movements

  house of zhèn (the arousing)

  51 zhèn

  no warnings given

  claps of deafening thunder

  he pauses, reads on

  16 yü

  people are enthused

  hearing familiar tunes

  good leaders know this

  40 xiè

  movement from danger

  a wave of relaxation

  now, get on with it!

  32 héng

  working together

  thunder rolls and the wind blows

  the same as always

  46 shēng

  with force of no force

  a shoot breaks open the earth

  seeking out the sun

  48 jĭng

  the unchanging well

  no increase and no decrease

  take care of the jug

  28 dà guò

  close to breaking point?

  work your load to the centre

  there you can manage

  17 suí

  his thunder at bay

  he defers to all her needs

  and she follows him

  house of sùn (the gentle)

  57 sùn

  without resistance

  the wind’s soft, gentle manner

  enters all spaces

  9 xiăo chŭ

  the promise of rain

  take success where you find it

  till the big one drops

  37 jiā rèn

  family building:

  clear relationships within

  influence without

  42 yì

  increase by sharing

  thunder and wind are alive

  arousing each other

  25 wú wàng

  living naturally

  as per heaven’s direction

  like rolling thunder

  21 shì kè

  when you must succeed

  it’s like biting through gristle

  remain clear and strong

  27 yí

  his mouth open wide

  seeing what enters and leaves

  you know what he is

  18 gŭ

  the art of healing:

  your energy flows freely

  and you are settled

  house of lí (the clinging)

  30 lí

  the flames are dancing

  clinging to their source of fuel

  in formless beauty

  56 lü

  fire on the mountain

  flaring up big, then nothing

  like the wanderer

  50 dĭng

  wood turning to flames

  warming sacrificial food

  life given to Life

  64 weì jì

  with utmost caution

  the fox crosses the thin ice

  will his tail keep dry?

  4 méng

  when needing to know

  first become still and humble

  and then you may seek

  59 huàn

  a warm breeze blowing

  breaking ice, dispersing rain

  here lies the oneness

  6 sòng

  whether early or late

  they can resolve their conflict

  or destroy themselves

  13 tóng rén

  something all can see

  fire rising to heaven

  uniting mankind

  house of kūn (the receptive)

  2 kūn

  a slow moving cow

  who looks and listens with care

  yet is never cowed

  24 fù

  the winter solstice

  as darkness reaches its peak

  we celebrate light

  19 lín

  meeting with greatness

  the king approaches his people

  with joy and devotion

  11 tài

  take two opposites

  turn them into each other

  and what have we got?

  34 dà zhuàng

  when bursting with strength

  and you are unstoppable

  don’t forget justice

  43 guài

  this hexagram guai

  it’s a handbook on success

  in six simple steps

  5 xū

  clouds turning to rain

  rain becoming clouds again

  all in t
he right time

  8 bĭ

  water on the earth

  in numerous streams and pools

  obeying one law

  house of dùi (the joyous)

  58 dùi

  a beautiful lake

  such fun swimming and sailing

  careful not to drown

  47 kùn

  facing oppression

  water sinks below the lake

  spare your words, be strong

  45 cùi

  live in harmony

  devoted to inner peace

  sharing joys without

  31 xián

  the game of courtship

  Mountain takes Lake by the hand

  maybe forever

  39 jiăn

  a difficult stretch

  between a cliff and a rockface

  no fight and no flight

  15 qiān

  you’ll find modest ones

  amongst kings and generals

  not only the lowly

  62 xiăo guò

  a bird in the sky

  we all need to keep going

  but can’t do much now

  54 gūi mèi

  walk upon your path

  as a marrying maiden

  your end clear in mind

  ∞Ω

  Introduction to prose works by Pat McGowan

  Ride A White Mare (2016)

  Marco Gentolini first discovers jade when he visits a Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Bendigo. This place houses the largest carving of a single piece of gem quality jade in the world. The jade was imported and Marco is curious why Australian jade wasn’t used. As a student journalist, he decides the story behind jade in Australia may be worth telling. Australia is said to have only low quality jade: black and dark green, with no translucent green or white which Asians value most highly. So the experts say.

  On his way to the jade mine in Cowell, South Australia, Marco takes on Tom Owen as a passenger, a fellow down on his luck, mostly self-made, though a person with lots of quirky stories. Tom is a lot more cautious in his approach to life compared to Marco, a typical Gen Y-er who knows what he wants. As Marco and Tom seek out key people and key places in the jade game in Australia, they hear whisperings that naturally occurring white jade may indeed exist in Australia. Their quest soon becomes far more earnest and their odd chemistry allows them to follow a trail of clues towards a supposedly impossible goal. They meet dead ends and false trails, but between the two of them, they refuse to give up.

  ∞Ω

  Jade is My Stone (2014)

  Shipton Kingsgate of Riverwood is on a quest for his own special piece of jade, a stone with an illustrious history, even as the world challenges him in every way to discover the difference between true and false in jade, and also in people’s hearts.

  While this text reads as a novel, its thirty chapters are also a collection of stories about jade, its beauty, its history and its addictive charm. The book itself is much like the box of jade pieces, both carved and rough, which Shipton at home likes to open and fondle from time to time, for the pleasure it brings him.

  An odd collection of characters inhabit these pages. Some of them are in Shipton’s own family, plus his neighbours, and his mentor, jade connoisseur, Harbie Throwley who was taught by a blind man to appraise jade.

  This book is a rendition of jade into words, of which even Shipton can never get enough, though of course, he can’t ever rest until he finally has the real thing in his hands.

  ∞Ω

  Mostly Friday Nights (2013)

  What happened on Friday nights in the Sydney suburbs in the seventies? Read these stories about Campbell and his mates from Campbelltown, told in the style of The Adventures of Don Juan though with not so many heroes. Most of the characters in these stories are preoccupied with getting out of it. If you weren’t out of it, you just weren’t there. That was the whole idea! Here is a set of stories that examines the powerful asking made by your average teenager in the suburbs back then, told lovingly from the perspective of one who lived to see the expansion of life in these places as an answer to so much asking.

  WARNING: These stories contain references to the use of illegal substances, underage drinking, burglary, suicide, prostitution, illicit sex, gang rape, mental illness, domestic violence, bingeing on big macs, and sex in the back of a butcher’s shop. Read at your own risk.

  ∞Ω

  Splitting Apart (2012)

  The year is 2019 and the 83 regions of the Russian Federation are splitting apart. A team of six in a Canberra office have been asked to provide an urgent report on the issue for their Minister. As they strive to meet their deadline, the story of an office itself fracturing into pieces, as personal histories surface, unfolds to echo the crisis they are being asked to report on.

  Best described as a discontinuous novel, this is a story told in six parts. Each part is told in first person by a different member of the team in Canberra preparing a report on the international geopolitical crisis of the break up of the Russian Federation. Nev, team leader, is ex-army, with a fixation on language for its own sake, and not real good at politics as it’s played in the public service. His number two, Vic, is an ambitious, career public servant who goes after what she wants. When Nev blocks Vic’s request for a transfer, she thinks she has some dirt which will put Nev in his place. But Nev falls back into old habits of no-holds-barred behaviour. The story begins with Taz, the youngest in the team, and the most unstable, in hospital after a workplace related injury. We also have Sammy, an F2M transgender, wanting to do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, to support her family. Quinn, a former musician who joined the public service by chance works closely with Wes who is dealing with some sort of chronic fatigue syndrome. They all have to work together. They are all living in their own world. These worlds blend together to relate a bigger story of the splitting apart.

  ∞Ω

  The Shades of Paracelsus (2011)

  A young adult drama set in Wollongong, Australia, this novel is about how the innocence and optimism of youth can be treated so shoddily, so contemptuously by the darker forces that sometimes drive big business today. Can winning ever only be about holding back the inevitable? This is a question both the good and the bad may like to ask themselves in their quieter moments.

  Anna Waters, 17, is a smart girl from a good home who has a passion for natural medicine. Inspired by a medieval miracle worker, she wants to bring the people of her town to healthier ways of living.

  Al Flanagan, 24, a smooth talking and super ambitious businessman who works for a multinational pharmaceutical company is not going to let some reckless young schoolgirl threaten his market share or career path. But how far will he go to protect his patch?

  We all wish every David could overcome their Goliath. But let’s not get too romantic about this; sometimes the Davids of this world are just not patient or clever enough, or perhaps the Goliaths are just too strong. Hmmm. The Shades of Paracelsus is also a novel about place. It explores the Illawarra region of Australia, a place where the abrupt and unarguable logic of the escarpment meets the tireless expanse of sapphire waters of a pacific ocean. See how this place shapes the thinking of its people.

  ∞Ω

  The Drain Brains (2007)

  The darkies: untold kilometres of storm water drains under the town. With special places like the Cathedral and the Concrete Palace, it’s a world of mystery and wonder for kids who love to explore.

  The Drain Brains: a secret gang of high schoolers who seek their adventure in the darkies. But they never go in there alone. And never when it rains.

  Fish: the most unpopular member of the gang. Sometimes he can be a real idiot. He breaks every rule you could imagine and soon ends up in deep trouble. Can Fish be saved? Or will he pay the ultimate price for being an idiot?

  Can the Drain Brains remain a secret as they struggle to save Fish? And can they win against the vile and evil thing they call the Bog M
onster? Read the Drain Brains!

 


‹ Prev