Poem #45 Bearded dragon
No Comments »30th April, 2012; Category: Poetry
Bearded dragon
My scaly friend
Sits motionless on
The sun-drenched rock
In our garden.He is staring past me at
The cloud-streaked sky.Why are you perched there?
Is there rain imminent?
Perhaps a brewing storm?Or is it just
To admire
The view?© Trevor W. Hampel
- Bearded Dragon in our garden
Lest We Forget
Mt Macedon War Memorial
ANZAC DAY 2012
I invite you to read my special tribute poem Anzac Cove (click here)
Tabor Adelaide Graduation Day 2012
Yesterday I dressed up all smart and official and headed off to Adelaide, about an hour’s drive from home. I attended the Tabor Adelaide Graduation Day for 2012. At the same event in 2011 I graduated, having achieved my Master of Arts (Creative Writing) degree. It was a wonderful day and I had a great sense of achievement.
A few months later I was invited to join the teaching staff and I started lecturing as an Adjunct Lecturer earlier this year. So far it is going really well and I am enjoying the experience – in spite of how it tires me out at my age. More recently I have agreed to teach a second subject next semester.
Today I was able to witness a number of close friends graduating. I also had the privilege of joining the ranks of staff members during the ceremony.
I would highly recommend Tabor Adelaide to any prospective students. Many of their courses – including the creative writing units – can be studied externally, and even overseas. Semester 2 does not commence until mid-July, so you have plenty of time to enrol. You never know – you could end up with me as your lecturer!
The writing courses are particularly valuable. I regularly write and then submit stories, poems and articles to publishers. When I started the course my strike rate was less than 10% – meaning for every 10 submissions, only one was published. My strike rate is currently 44% and rising. In a few months I anticipate that I will be getting a publication rate equating to one published piece for every two submissions.That’s very encouraging.
Good writing.
About writing, reading and lecturing
Regular readers of this site must be wondering whether I’ve dropped off the planet.
Both of my readers.
In reality, this site still continues to chug along with a steady readership despite not having new articles posted regularly. It must have something to do with the content written and posted here over the last six years. I missed writing anything for this site’s 6th birthday on March 6th. Happy Birthday!
Over recent months I have still been writing and very busy on writing type activities. Late last year I was offered a lecturing position at the university where I recently achieved my Master of Arts degree. This has meant a great deal of time in writing and preparing the lectures. My lectures are designed to help students new to tertiary studies on how to research a topic and then turn this into an academic essay. I am pleased that this is going really well.
More recently I have been asked to lecture in children’s literature to student teachers studying at the same university. This is an area I am very passionate about and have significant qualifications in this area. Not only do I write children’s stories, I have 35 years of classroom experience in using children’s literature to enhance student development. Furthermore, about a quarter of that time was spent as a teacher librarian. I’m really looking forward to teaching this extra unit in second semester.
Another thing I have been doing recently is getting back to reading more books. Over recent years the amount of reading I have done has shifted from books to more online material. I plan to redress that imbalance in the coming year or so; there are so many great books that I haven’t read yet – or wish to reread.
Another pressure upon my time for writing here since January has been my church life. Our pastor resigned unexpectedly in January and as one of the Eldership team it has been my responsibility to see that programmes still continue to move along. This has involved some preaching – a sermon takes many hours to write and prepare – a few extra meetings, and writing material, including devotional style editorials, for our weekly newsletter.
I trust I’ll find time to add new articles here on a regular basis in the coming weeks and months.
Good writing.