Val's Space
personal poetry
Gerald Finlay
He served in the Royal Air Force, and has been Married for 46 years, he has three grown children and five grandchildren. A photograph of Gerry can be seen in My Friends Album.
VM: Welcome Gerry to my little bit of space on this vast super cyber highway.
VM: Out of all the species that roam this planet which one would you like to be if you were not a man?
VM: If you were able to live life again would you choose a different route or have you enjoyed this journey?
VM: What was it that first inspired you to write? And of course who?
VM: What is your favourite Genre to read and who is your favourite writer and why?
VM: I know you have travelled extensively in your time Gerry, but which part of the world impressed and inspired you the most?
VM: What was the most amazing or bizarre sight you ever saw whilst travelling?
VM: If it were possible Gerry which three characters who were ever born, would you most liked to have met and why?
‘Well what do you think then gentlemen? Shall we go over the main points again? Would you care to read out what we have down so far Mr Secretary.’
‘Yes Mr Prime Minister. The six of you seem to broadly agree – these are the main points that have been raised. The over seventies can be regarded as a general burden and nuisance, contributing very little if anything to society or to the government. They are though very proficient at demanding their rights and taking from us. We find a considerable amount of the health budget is taken up with this group.’
‘Okay let’s discuss what we have so far. James?’
‘The general opinion is that the elderly are just a bloody nuisance all round. Go out on the roads, there is always some silly old bugger in front of you with all the time in the world. They can’t see properly, nearly all deaf as posts, and they dither about on roundabouts, a real menace. Go shopping and they are always there blocking the aisles with their bloody trolleys or Zimmer frames. They block the pavements with their shuffling about, and take all the seats. And they are always wanting more – never bloody satisfied.’
‘Okay, got your point James, what’s your take Tom’?
‘Let’s take a look at the fiscal side. A large slice of the health budget is taken up by the over-seventies with replacement parts. Just think what we could save there. How many knees, hips, legs and other things do they have fitted? They keep having bloody strokes and heart attacks, it shouldn’t be like that; soon they will be living for bloody ever. What about eyes? Take all these cataract operations, they’re bad enough but soon we could have eye replacement, what about that cost? Just think what we could do for AIDS, drug abuse and unmarried mothers if we had that money. What about care homes and nursing homes, how much do they cost to run? I know we have cut food and care to the bone, but all these bloody silly old fogies who don’t know whether they are coming or going – I mean, what is the bloody point? They don’t even know what day it is.’
‘Yes, you’re right on those points James, but we won’t gain much from their pensions. They are so low now, it won’t make much difference. How should it be done then? What do you think Tarquin?’
‘The legislation should say that on reaching the age of seventy, life will be terminated. People will soon get used to the idea and any initial opposition will soon end. In fact in many cases it will be welcome. All property should be forfeit at death – that will be a nice little earner, and will help the overcrowding problem no end. Just think of how many dithering old fools are living in large properties, sometimes on their own – just doesn’t make sense does it? But I have to ask about exception to the rule, we surely must have some exceptions, and will it be retrospective?’
‘Okay Tarquin, thanks. Exceptions – Mildred, can you come in on that?’
‘Well yes, we have thought of that. If anybody is considered essential to the state there could be a stay. We will also make it possible to buy time. The PM and myself discussed this earlier. We were thinking in the region of thirty thousand for a year. That should give the likes of us a good few years, but still get rid of the rest. There will be no state aid of any kind during this extension though, all health needs and care will be provided and paid for by the individual. With regards to applying it – a bit tricky that one, but we will have to feed it in gradually to keep them all happy. We will be fair of course.’ Tarquin interrupted.
‘What do they do in Wales and Scotland, Prime Minister have you had any feedback on this kind of thing?’
‘No – and I don’t bloody care to have either. They chose to go their own way and look what happened to the fools. They were in a right bloody mess last I heard. Sod ’em, that’s what I say.’
‘What about Europe, PM?’ Ben asked.
‘Don’t know that either; since we made that final break, nobody seems to know what they do over there, and let’s face it, who bloody cares anymore? I certainly don’t. I remember when we nearly lost it because of those European fools. Let them sink now, and I hope it’s without bloody trace.'
‘Well okay then guys, we seem to have a good starting point; we will put it to the executive committee. I think we are on to a winner here. Let’s face it we haven’t much alternative have we, with all the money the youngsters are demanding these days and hardly any of them willing to work. Yes, Ben?’
‘I was thinking about all the kids the youngsters are producing. Something has to give. We are acting sensibly here, and let’s face it we are in a better position to confront the old than the young. But just one point: what if the executives turn it down?’
‘Stuff ’em, we say what goes on here, they are just a bunch of thick bloody noddies anyway, if they don’t play ball I will sack the bloody lot of ’em. Yes Tarquin? But just a quickie.’
‘What about any money or legacies that oldies want to leave?’
‘I think to be fair, let’s say ten percent of any assets will be allowed for buying time, anything over that to be forfeited. If time is bought, no other benefits can be passed on to family. Why should anyone be handed money for nothing – it’s about time all that stopped, and then that will be another nice income for us. Who knows where this might lead if we get it up and running? There are a few other groups who spring to mind who we could well do without. We could have a real bloody shake up. Best do a bit at a time though.'
‘Yes PM, we could end up being able to afford quite a few extra years I should think.'
'Right, let’s break for lunch. I hear they have just got a new consignment of wine in from Australia that is very friendly to the old taste buds. Oh, you want to come back in Tom before we go?’
‘I was just thinking about Australia, PM. That was a bloody good move when you emptied the prisons and sent all the wasters down there. It was similar to what happened years ago I understand.’
‘Yes indeed, but it’s been a financial success for us this time. Saved us a bloody fortune, and let’s face it the Aussies soon turned it to their advantage – got the buggers working didn’t they? And they keep asking for more of ’em, still – sooner a nice bottle of plonk than prisons full of useless criminals draining all our bloody resources.
‘Okay, let’s go and eat.'
The above piece features in 'Observations in C Major'.
Also by this author 'Orb Web Tales' Published by SRE-F Books. Available from all usual outlets.
©
Copyright
GF2008
Harry Buschman
A photograph of Harry can be seen in my album of friends
~~
First of all I'm a nonagenarian as of last April – too far gone to be learning new things and probably too old to be giving advice as well. But never too old to tell stories about the way things used to be.
I'm a widower with two past middle age daughters, both of them in medical research – one in Florida and the other in Canada. I live alone in a house that was once full of family life and love. Somehow it doesn't seem right to abandon it.
I grew up in the Bed/Stuy area of Brooklyn, New York. It was a tenement area, a slum if you will. But we didn't know it was a slum. It was home to us. I joined the US army when Hitler moved into Poland and saw a good part of the world until I resigned in 1945. This has led to a lifetime of experiences, which by the grace of God I still remember.
Using these experiences, I have written hundreds of short stories. I've been fortunate to have one hard cover book published in Europe and used as a textbook in English speaking schools in the Balkans. I'm also included in a half dozen anthologies in England, Canada and US.
~~
VM: Welcome Harry to my cosy little home here in Cyber Space
HB: Thanks for the welcome, quite a home you have here.
VM: Out of all the species that roam this planet which one would you like to be if you were not a man and why?
HB: You start off with a bang, don't you? I never gave the question much thought, Val, but it would probably be a species with no knowledge of man – an invertebrate perhaps – a clam or a sea urchin. Something with an innocent and unselfish view of the universe and the sense to realize it doesn't revolve around him. Hermann Hesse wrote two contemporary historical novels, one from the point of view of a flounder and another a toad, Kafka wrote one about a man who awakens one day to find he is a cockroach. It takes a wise person indeed, I think, to realize that this world we live in was not created solely for ourselves ... and creating God in out own image doesn't make it so.
VM: If you were able to live life again would you choose the same time frame or would you have liked to have been born in another time or place?
HB: I'm satisfied with the route I've taken. I've been on the same road ninety years and I'm pretty certain if I'd taken a different route I wouldn't be here answering your questions. Besides, I've made a fair living as an architect, a soldier, a photographer and a writer. I've traveled enough and seen about as much as I expected to see.
VM: What was it that first inspired you to write and of course who?
HB: I was shaken up badly when my wife died, and I think writing was a way for me to pick up the broken pieces, a way of remembering in a more durable way the life we shared. The characters in the short stories I write are people we both knew, the events are things that happened to both of us, the places are places we've lived in.
VM: What is your favourite Genre to read and who is your favourite writer and why?
HB: He's a little tarnished these days, but I have no hesitation in saying Earnest Hemingway was and is the greatest writer to come our way in my lifetime. After him comes the familiar; Joyce, Faulkner, Malamud, Cheever, Conrad, Doctorow and Chekhov -- the list is endless and includes anyone who writes honestly. But Hemingway had a voice like no other writer in the history of literature, and his work was, as he said, like an iceberg ... eighty-five percent below the surface. All of them were at their best in the short story.
VM: I know you have been an architect and a journalist during your professional life Harry. Which was the most satisfying?
HB: I wrote for a local newspaper, Val. At the time it had a (paid) circulation of about 5000. We printed more like 50,000 but the majority of them were handed out in malls and supermarkets or stuffed in mailboxes. Architecture was the center of my life. It is a profession that demands cooperation and getting along with people. Quite the opposite from writing. Schools, laboratories, office buildings, even the shuttle hangar for NASA in Cape Canaveral – they were all immensely challenging to work on and fulfilling when finished. They also sent my two daughters through medical school.
VM: What was the most amazing or bizarre project or story you were involved in?
HB: The night we ran a German U-Boat aground in the Bay of Fundy when the tide ran out and stranded it; We thought we did anyway ... we were US Army, and it would be unthinkable for an army vessel to be credited with such a victory.
VM: You were in the US Navy weren’t you? You must have seen active service I imagine.
HB: I was fortunate to join the army two years before the US got into the war. I was already a Warrant Officer when it began. I had a lot of experience in anti-submarine warfare at that time and I stayed with it until the end of the war. We worked on coastal defenses, extreme long range artillery, mine laying and air reconnaissance.
VM: If it were possible Harry which three characters who were ever born, would you most liked to have met during your life and why?
HB: Jesus, Shakespeare and Abraham Lincoln. I can't think of any three people I admire more. Their humanity, their respect for the natural world and their ability to accomplish great things. Take one of them away and the world would be a far poorer place to live in.
VM: Thank you Harry , it was a great pleasure to talk to you.
~~~~~
Why not sit back and enjoy Harry's story now.
Don’t Call Tonight
Harry Buschman
She breathed a sigh of relief when she flipped the switch and all the lights blinked on.
She hoped she did it right. What would Peter say if she didn’t? Probably he wouldn't say anything, not really. He would wait for a quiet moment on the afternoon of Christmas day and fix them the way they should have been fixed in the first place.
The lanterns along the driveway lit up the snow and the little bubble lights strung around the maple tree sparkled in the cold wind. The lights meant so much in war time. What would Christmas be like without the lights ... gloomy. Oh, so gloomy.
Peter was gone four months now and she was six months pregnant, and ... Oh – how she longed to see him again. She couldn’t bear to spend this Christmas alone – with the baby due. Maybe the lights would bring him home early – although he said not to expect it. At least six months, he said. That meant he wouldn’t be here until late February. She’d be in her final month then. It’s too close, Peter, much too close.
But nevertheless, she got a tree – a small one, and the man was kind enough to tie it up and put it on the roof of their car. Even though the doctor told her to be careful lifting anything, she risked carrying it into the house and decorating it all by herself. She was good at that, better even than Peter was. She made yards and yards of popcorn and cranberries. They hadn’t been married long enough to accumulate many ornaments, so she made them herself. Gold paper, glue and scissors and a cut-out angel for the top. “If you could see it, Peter! You’d be so proud of me.”
She was going through tomorrow in her mind. She was sure if he couldn’t be here on Christmas day he would call. What was the time in Iraq? How many hours ahead – was it ten? She couldn’t remember.
But if the phone did ring ...! Suppose it rang now ... would she have the courage to pick it up? It’s bad enough to spend Christmas without him.
“But I’d have to pick it up ... wouldn't I ... there’s no one here to do it for me.”
the end
Adele Geraghty
VM: Welcome Adele to my cosy little home here in Cyber Space
AG: Well, hello Val, and thanks for inviting me. I'm very pleased to be here.
VM: Out of all the species that roam this planet which one would you like to be if you were not a woman?
AG: Well! I didn't see that one coming. Hmmm. Let me see. I really haven't given this much thought in recent years, but I suppose I'd have to give the same answer I gave when I was young, which is a wolf. Yes, I know Sarah Palin, in equal measures of ignorance and arrogance, has placed a bounty on their paws and legalised hunting them from the air, but wolves have always lived on the fringe. And, so have I, at some time or other. Mainly though, they are wild, free, stunningly gorgeous, are wonderful parents, socially just and they mate for life. I'd like to think I could live up to a wolf's standards.
VM: If you were able to live life again would you choose a different route or have you enjoyed this journey?
AG: Val, I really hate to cry over spilt milk. I mean, I think anyone who says they have no regrets is either a liar, or in tremendous denial. Nobody gets it all right, all the time. But there are degrees of regret and, there is also learning from mistakes. If I had my life to live over, I would change some things, but if it meant that I would miss out on being the person I am today, then in that case, I wouldn't change a thing.
VM: What was it that first inspired you to write? and of course who?
AG: Oh, when I was little, my mother would read to me. She was a great reader, my Mom, and she instilled a real love of reading and writing in me, from an early age. I remember being about seven years old and my teacher leaving me in charge of the class, by reading to them stories I had written. By the time I was eleven I was writing my own novels, inspired at that time, by Louisa May Alcott. But there were always tons of books in our house. We bought them second hand and I had an aunt who was a school teacher, so we inherited old, unwanted school books from her, too. I devoured the classics; Coleridge, Elizabeth Barret, Tennyson, so many. I lived in a rough neighborhood too, and it didn't make me a popular person, having my nose perpetually buried in a book. Later I became a fan of James Joyce, Carson McCullers, James Faulkner and Walt Whitman. I think though, that the person who encouraged me the most and, made me realise my true potential, was 'Beat Generation', poet-publisher Daisy Aldan, who was my teacher for two years in High School. She introduced me personally to strong women authors like Anais Nin, Ruth Lisa Schecter and Ann Marx, and they also encouraged and, inspired me. My favourite contemporary poets are Kim Addonizio, Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovani. I just love Addonizio's 'What Do Women Want'. I think it's one of the strongest poems I've ever read. But as for me, even way back when I was a child, I loved to write. I would lose myself in the best form of expressing myself that was available to me. I knew then, that writing was not only what I wanted to do, but what I would always do.
VM: What is your favourite Genre to read and who is your favourite writer and why?
AG: Oh my! Well, I'd have to say classic horror. I have a huge collection of ghost and horror stories and, I treat myself to new ones every Christmas. Nothing pleases me more than curling up by the Christmas tree with a glass of warm mulled wine and a book, of Victorian thrillers. I can't choose a favourite; Sheridan Le Fanu, Mrs.Oliphant, M. R. James, Wilkie Collins, Charlotte Perkins Gillman, Saki; there are too many to list and I love them all. These aren't, of course, the only things I read, but they are certainly my favourites.
AG: Well, it's a bit of a fairy tale, really. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, but I lived about 90 miles north of the city proper, when I first considered coming here. It began in 2001, when I emailed some work to a publication in New York, for possible publication. I used the email address which I'd found, in the paper for which I was writing at the time. The next day I got a response and I thought, 'This must be my lucky day'. But instead, it read, 'Dear Adele, I'm not the party you're seeking. Yours is the third email of this type I've received and, I fear somone is using my screen name illegally. Would you please tell me how you came to have it.' So after determining that it was simply a typo, resulting in the reversal of two numbers, I emailed him and explained it all. As it turned out, he'd written to all three if us who'd reached him by accident, but I was the only one who bothered to respond. So appreciative was he, that he messaged me with thanks and, after talking for about a half hour he said, 'My, you're up awfully late aren't you? I said 'No, it's only a quarter to eight. And that's when we asked each other where we were located. It was quite a surpise to find there was an ocean between us! Well, as it turned out, we enjoyed talking and, continued to do so. We finally decided we'd meet, one year to the day from when we'd met by accident. And that's how I managed to marry a Yorkshire Archaeologist and relocated to Sheffield. But I have to say, even when I first came to the UK to visit, I was more interested in seeing places where tourists didn't frequent. I wanted to see how people lived and what they enjoyed doing and, I really fell in love with the North. I've been to London and it's fascinating, but I think Sheffield is truly underated. It has great night-life, uncountable literay pursuits and a myriad of multi-cultural shops and restaurants. I love it here. Coming from New York, I can honestly say it has as much cultural activity as anything I'm used to.
VM: What was the most amazing, bizarre or plain downright irritating event you have you have ever witnessed
AG: Oh my! Well Val, I've really seen a great deal that would fall into those categories! I guess I would have to say though, that there was one thing which stands out in my memory. I'd gone to NYC to look for a job back in 1989. I'd been living in a rural area then and had been away from city life for ten years. I was walking to the train one day when, across the street I saw a feeble old man hit by a car. I screamed and immediately stopped, but nobody else even turned a head. To go a step beyond, the driver got out of the car and yelled at the man for getting in front of his car and then drove away! I was totally dumbfounded! Not only by the lack of caring of the pedestrians, but by the thorough insensitivity and lack of remorse on the part of the driver. I couldn't help but feel I that didn't belong there anymore.
VM: If it were possible Adele which three characters who were ever born, would you most liked to have met and why?
AG I think I'd have to say author James Joyce, philospher and leader Mahatmus Ghandi and suffraget Emmaline Pankhurst. Joyce's early life had many parallel lines to my own and I'd love to discuss life and literature with him. I've always admired Ghandi his courage and integrity. He's been a role model for countless people and I could learn much from talking with him. Emmaline Pankhurst dared to demand equality for women in a thoroughly man's world. At the time, suffrgates were brutally abused. Whatever political freedoms women have today can be owed to her courage and determination. I'd like to thank her andf bring her up to date. I know she isn't famous, but I'd also like to meet my Great Great Greamdmother, Martha Butler. She came to New York, from Staffordshire, in 1869 and I would love to know her. She was a brave woman, who sacrificed a great deal for her family before she died, younger than I am now. I'd like to let her know that her efforts weren't wasted and, that I've come full circle, by coming home to England.
VM: If you had the power what Law would you pass and why
AG: Well, if this could be an international law, I'd make medical treatment free for everyone. People can complain about the NHS, but in America, people die from lack of medical coverage. I think a country is only as strong as its members, and this is never more blatantly evident, than in our lack of adequate medical treatment for our own citizens.
VM: I am old enough to remember the Sixties, some say if you can remember them you weren’t really there. Do you remember them? If so, is there any single event that you wish you could go back and change?
AG: I remember them well! I was the only one in my family working though and I supported my mother, so I had a good time, but I still had to maintain a certain responsibility that most kids my age didn't have. I worked full time and took college classes at night at The New School for Social Research, in Greenwhich Village. I think the major thing I would change is that I would go to Woodstock. I was invited and I wanted to go, but I had to work that day or the rent wouldn't be paid. So, yes, I did miss some of it, but I was there for the 'Be-ins' and 'Sit-ins' and, I wore solidarity arm bands and wept when Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were killed. I thought the country was headed toward civil war when the Kent State 4 were gunned down and one day, when I walked to my night class, the townhouse across from my college was totally blown away. The underground group, The Weathermen had an arsenal in there and it went BANG! And then there was the music and the dancing! WOW! I wouldn't mind going back and doing some of it again. It was a great time to be young. We felt we could really make a difference and we had lots of hope. And we did make changes, which today are taken for granted. I suppose to really appreciate it, you'd have to have been there.
VM: Thanks Adele it was a pleasure talking to you
The Oceans Of Your Eyes
(for Adem)
You were born in a record-breaking heat wave
that covered New York like a sodden blanket,
trapping us in a caul of our own humidity.
And when you crowned, leonine,
tearing flesh and breaking bone,
you entered this world like a jungle beast.
When I'd given all the blood I had,
enough for two lifetimes,
I held you yawning, wide and keen,
clutching my skin with survival strength.
You were all devouring and sucking smiles
as you balled your elegant fists
and grasped life with all ten fingers.
You kicked the heated air with perfect promise.
And I looked into the oceans of your eyes,
fathomless, infinite and wise,
while I prayed for some liberating imperfection
to guarantee you'd never be a soldier.
(First Published by Capitol Book Fest: 'Family Pictures', Anthology, October, 2007)