Time in Ashes :- the plaint of a tool-less bloke

Robert Bly, one of my favorite American poets, wrote a book that influenced me greatly: Its title was 'Iron John: A book about men'. It was a cornerstone of the mythopoetic men's movement, which sought to liberate men from the constraints of the modern world, and re-acquaint them with their true masculine nature.

Support act for the Mentals.

These guy's played wonderfully original instrumental guitar music.

One of the central images of the book is how men seek the heights. In this conceit, the feminine gender (not women per se) are of the earth, rooted in the matrix of connectedness and blood, childbirth and community. Male gendering,  in contrast, is condemned to heaven, to make the aspirational climb, to become something. He paints a picture of the dis-embodied male competing to climb the mountain of his own ambition. This is a clear reference to the career driven modern male, spending long hours at his work, donning that symbol of aspiration, the suit, seeking to be the master of destiny.

Mental as Anything, live in Woodburn.

New guitarist for the Mentals

Bly then describes the 'time in ashes', when the aspirant male, having reached the pinnacle of his ambition, senses the taste of ashes in his mouth. All that striving; the BMW's, the Rolex watches, the beautiful silicone-enhanced girlfriend, all of it suddenly seems worthless, pointless, meaningless. The man is then forced to consider his life and values, to re-create meaning for himself in the more essential and fundamental things of life.

Martin Plaza, one of the original members.

Martin Plaza, looking rather aged.

Well, I've been feeling a bit like we've been doing our 'time in ashes'. The first blow was the loss of Sophie's child, at 24 weeks. Megan and I had been feeling a re-newed sense of purpose, with the thought of becoming grandparents, and the hope of establishing family connections with Megan's children. Shockingly, suddenly, this was gone, and our hearts went out to Sophie for her loss.

Support act for The Black Sorrows

Joe Camilari and 'The Black Sorrows'

Joe channelling Van Morrison.

We also started to finish up our old life in Lismore. We put our house on the market, and that meant that I had to process the contents of my shed. Now, my shed is a true blokes refuge. It was bigger than the house, and full of potent tools. I had BIG TOOLS, I mean, industrial size tools. There was a metal lathe, a gear head mill, bandsaws and drill presses. Well, I had to sell the lot, which I did with great alacrity. But it was not without some grief, and a sense of loss. Lismore represented our working life, we loved living there while we were both working, lately at teaching. But the tools also represented that male sense of potency, the ability to make things, to fashion raw material into useful objects.

My beautiful lathe

Can you sense the potent power in my mill?

Now, retirement is hard enough for a lot of us blokes, we lose that ability to provide for others, and to establish ourselves in the social pecking order. But the loss of all my tools was a particularly low blow (pun intended). There went my sense of agency, of usefulness with my hands. I had loved being able to spend time in my shed, fashioning beautiful things out of raw elemental stuff like wood, metal and fibreglass. Now, I have to seek new ways to define myself. Got to love the challenges of getting older (NOT!).

One partially finished product of my shed, an ocean-going kayak.

Another shot of the kayak, only needing the two halves to be joined.

You might notice from the photo's that we've been seeing a few local bands. It's great to see acts that we grew up with, still out there performing. In fact, it seems that it was our generation that went out to live music. In the clubs and pubs circuits that we frequented, all the audience were our age or older. The musicians were as well. In fact, I went to high school with Andy Smith (who is now Greedy Smith, frontman for 'Mental as Anything'. We really loved seeing some live Australian music again.

So, even old farts can rock out!

 Its been great to have a break from house cleaning/selling, medical procedures and family meetings about wills and powers of attorney, to catch up on Aussie Rock. We're keen to start extending our musical vocabulary to include some of those distinctive Australian sounds. Australian rock music has always been a bit raw, but throbbing with power and excitement. In fact, Megan is currently doing a great job rocking Billy Thorpe's 'Its Almost Summer'; so maybe we are finding new directions and passions in older life. Maybe I can survive being a tool-less bloke!