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!
