Tangled Twine

To find the single thread in a tangled maze of string takes patience, focus and persistence. The thread recovered can be woven into something useful or artistic. Our minds are tangled with a maze of experiences, observations, feelings and ideas. A moment of inspiration drops into that maze and it takes the same skills used on the string to find the simple, whole thread that becomes art.

‘We are all exposed to inspirational moments that pounce on us, apparently from nowhere,’ says John Camillo. ‘It is possible that we all have the initial flash of an idea or picture or tune. The thing is that it takes concentrated effort to embody the magic of a moment into a finished, communicative product. There is truth in the old saying that good ideas are twopence a ton. Most of them are not grabbed, moulded and polished into works of greatness.’

Here is a collection of poems written between 2008 and 2016. They are the author’s attempt at catching some of those moments when bright things flash into his mind. They deal with the everyday – his in particular, but very often ours as well. We journey with him through important times in his life and share his emotions and reflections of those times.

John Camillo has gathered his observations and done the work of moulding and polishing, and then presented them to us, his readers: ‘I offer them to you for what you might see.’

He expands this invitation to us:

‘What do you notice on your way to the train station each morning, or creeping along the tolled freeways in your car, or sitting at the kitchen table amidst the noise of a family dinner, or watching a young child hurtling around the place chasing the hapless family pet dog or cat … These poems represent some of the things that have flashed the author’s mind over the last little time. Enjoy, reflect, respond.’