Once upon a time a 9 year old girl had been stimming in the garden.  Thirty feet away, an excited black curly haired retriever/kelpie cross bounded about happily, looking like a cheery harmless grizzly bear.  The dog had no name for it was only visiting.  It belonged a man who’d gone on holiday and was being looked after in respite care.  But the 9 year old didn’t care, for anything friendly was a friend.  Read the rest of this entry »

As the author of 10 published books, an international public speaker and professional autism consultant I’m best known in the autism world. But I have a wide following in the D.I.D (Dissociative Identity Disorder) and MPD populations too. Read the rest of this entry »

Do we all have multiple selves?  Is this the same as Multiple Personality Disorder or can we suddenly find we have outgrown a self or find an unknown one has finally broken through to consciousness, ready to turn our present life on its head?  To know what selves are we must define what they are not.  Read the rest of this entry »

Today I went to the Rime Institute in Tecoma.  It’s a marvelous house in suburbia transformed into a Buddhist centre practicing Tibetan Buddhism.  If you’ve ever wanted to try out various forms of meditation or learn more about Buddhist spirituality of philosophy this is such a gentle, low key place with a lovely vibe.

Wondering how to stop thinking, doing, judging and learn how to be, or how to strengthen the ability to be to the point it doesn’t cause boredom, agitation or withdrawal symptoms from Facebook or Nintendo?  Then I recommend this place.

It’s donation basis is highly affordable.  You can attend sessions on an ad-hoc basis and see if its for you.  The Buddhists at the centre are real people, earthy, warm, approachable with none of that floating on clouds false ‘new agey’ thing.  Tibetan Buddhism is steeped in rich history thousands of years old.  This is real, tangible spirituality at your own pace (note, I said spirituality, not religion) and, no, you don’t have to be a vegetarian nor religious to try it out.  Even if you just go along for a new cultural experience, it’s a great atmosphere and as close as you’ll get to the feel of a Buddhist temple in the foothills of Dandenong Ranges (it’s also walking distance from Tecoma station if you want to leave the car at home).

When I was a homeless girl

I had yellow teeth with holes,

Big enough to fall through.

Twenty six years of antibiotics

written on my enamel. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2008 The Aspinauts and I were gathered in a living room improvising with me doing beat poetry as the guys jammed on guitars, drums, keyboards.  It became an anti war protest song, Ladies and Gentlemen.  Luckily, someone hit the record button so when Paul joined us as drummer in 2009 we began to rehearse the song.  It became a powerful, almost Floydian stand out piece of sound art and made it onto the debut album, Broken Biscuit in 2010.

Here’s the video clip made by Oz Thomas, a colorful human and a wonderful poet in his own right.

THE DANCE

Grizzle, grizzle, grizzle grump.
Sore throat you woke me like a broken record.
“But you sounded so good…”.
And I remember myself like a poster glossy and shiny
shredded overnight in my interrupted dreams.

We’ll fingers crossed, hey?
We’ll hope like hell.
‘Cause Jesus ain’t waiting in the sunlight with fairy dust.
and positive thinking won’t buy me a Mercedes
(or an immune system).

Click your heels Dorothy.
Hope ’til your nipples fall off. Read the rest of this entry »

Three years ago I began an interactive poetry challenge on my blog.   It involved the public sending me 1-2 word titles and I had to send back a poem to each title within 48 hours.

Ranging from surreal, to grungy, from romantic, to funny, from political to symbolic and everywhere in between, the poems were as diverse as the titles sent in.   I gathered them into a collection called Weirdos Like Me.  It’s a collection of poetry, art and surrealism.  Amidst the poetry are also song lyrics to songs by Donna And The Aspinauts with whom I am the lead singer and main singer-songwriter. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh Valentine, forgive me not.

Was it whilst I blinked, you stole my heart?

A potted plant, upon my porch.

It sits in bloom, for now. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, I released my new book, Weirdos Like Me. It’s a collection of art, poetry and surrealism.  And, so, dedicated to all of you living with snow up to your eyeballs, here’s one of the works from the book, entitled SNOW.

SNOW

Confetti soft, it fell, calling me, the girl from a land of sun.

From the window it took my heart.

My feet ran me down the stairs.

I turned, music box dancer in a world of falling sky

And I knew snow. Read the rest of this entry »