IN THE CITY

When I first moved to Melbourne I really struggled, previously I had lived in sleepy Hobart and prior to that the northern suburbs of Brisbane. Living in a big city definitely takes some adjusting to. I live near Chapel Street, the infamous ‘shopping district’ with designer labels & designer cafes. I know I have changed a lot since moving here, consumerism – it permeates your very soul, from the deliberately designed shop windows to the bombarding billboards….soon you find yourself saying ‘I want that’, no ‘I need that’. I believe I will always live in the city from now on; it soon makes you almost dependent upon it – everything at your doorstep, even the small oases of nature scattered amongst its grid.

The following is something I wrote not long after moving to Melbourne, it alludes to Forrest Gump whom I felt somewhat like when I first moved here – simple, uncultured & awkward.

TOORAK FORREST

Something about this place makes you face yourself
Like Sylvia’s eye of a little god mirror
Despite the comings and goings of Chapel Street
And the boom shaka laka boom from the sixth floor
Everyone in such a blasted hurry
Making you seem all the more blasted slow
I wish I was a bird so I could fly far, far away

How far Jenny?

.....FAR!