Back in Capricornia

after a week & a bit away. In Sydney getting the city fix which I've been without for about a year. Was good. Like the coffee. & the joy of being in a place that was open until late or, in some cases, never closed.

Caught up with friends, rode on ferries & trains & trams, played the tourist, bought some books. Filled in a couple of holes in Library #3 - selected Paul Eluard, selected Ezra Pound, the City Lights Pocket Poets edition of Howl (ah, nostalgia! though was tempted to wait for a new printing in the hope it might be me that bought the millionth copy) Jean Genet's The Thief's Journal (hard to obtain for some obscure copyright reason). Bought some new stuff. Jill Jones' wonderful Screens Jets Heaven, J.G. Ballard's latest novel Millenium People, The Portable Magritte - 400 plates yet! At the rate I write my Series Magritte poems that's about seven years feedstock - & a quite incredible book by Joe LeSueur, Digressions on some poems by Frank O'Hara. Was given a couple of beautiful small books too - Jill Jones' Struggle and radiance: ten commentaries & Martin Edmond's essay Ghost Who Writes.

Had
lunch with
Jill & Martin.

Exchanged
books instead
of business cards.

& now back in Rockhampton, suffering from toothache. & reminded what a weird place this is, how nothing is easy. Finally found a dentist who could see me today, went there, was examined, given a script for antibiotics; had another appointment made for me, several hours & several kilometres away, for an X-ray; &, because the tooth was bad & has to come out, had another appointment made with another dentist, two appointments actually, two weeks away, one to see if it can be done under local anaesthetic & then one for the next day if it can be. Christ knows what'll happen if it can't. Six months before I can get into a public hospital since it's not life-threatening. That's the current waiting time.

Picked up the cat from the boarding kennels last night. She's pissed off. Apparently had lots of company there plus air-conditioning, & now only has me & the hot paving.

But it's good to be back, back at the blog.