Stories

October 28, 2023 - Army of Ink Ride In A Pumpkin

 

army of ink ride in pumpkin

 

Sometimes I Wish I Wasn’t Me .

This little soldier finally realised that being the fairest isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and looking up to stars can be dangerous – especially when they fall.  And that ‘way up high’, ‘over the rainbow’ and ‘climbing the ladder’ are sometimes dangerous places to try and reach.  And too far away to possibly get there on time.

Footnote:   It’s such a competitive world.  There’s a strong current drawing us up, up and away from who we are – or are comfortable and content being.  Acceptance, popularity, success and fitting in, can feel so out of reach.  It can feel impossible to meet the expectations of others.   Until the question arises –  what and who determines our worth?  It’s also wise to question the notion that a sense of belonging exists somewhere outside ourselves.  And that bigger and the better and more determines if we are –  ‘enough’.   It’s potentially a hothouse for discontent.  Home?  Home can be a building, a place,  but it can also be a secure feeling within yourself. 

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August 28, 2023 - Wisdoms of Rose Wish Upon Herself

 

rose magic wand

Rose never looked up to anyone – it saved her feeling small .

Rose has a tendency towards independence of a difficult kind.  She is not easily lead and exhibits a strong will to do things her own unusually diverse way.  Rose also sprouts a grounded view on equality which often clashes with the viewpoints of those she refused to look up to.  Still, she continues to look to herself for divine guidance.  Long Live Rose.

(Reposted from 2013.  Find Rose in her own pocket book and Clunk & Jam book 2019.

March 11, 2021 - Once Upon A Dark Time

 

Army of Ink Once upon a time

Once Upon A Dark Time …

…in a land of smiles, bad things happened.  Children were broken into.  Nothing said.  Nothing done.  And so the innocent grew, not up, but small.  But this was not to be the end.  In the darkness little helpers gathered spilling rich black into soft white sheets.  Tailoring picture books to fill empty spaces.  Telling truth that grew much taller than a world too big to fit.  Until size no longer mattered and little souls were reawakened by the rhythms and rhymes of songs that carried them all the way home – ensuring they’d never be beaten again.

Footnote:  This story (from 2014) reflects The Black Dog Project’s focus on the safety, well being and rights of children and young people – and the idea of making books and gifting them to young people in the community through  sponsorship.  Find in Clunk & Jam 2019 book.  Original story in handmade book, ‘Rock The Boat’, 2009.  Handwriting by Maggie).

March 11, 2021 - Army of Ink – Out The Bad Apples

 

army of ink 95 garbage bag and bad apples

 

Sometimes you have to find a way of separating the badness from your self .

There are so many of us who have been given a bad apple.  It is the worst thing in the world to receive.   Just like having a bad apple in your bag, it rots – eventually ruining everything.  This little soldier has a story about ‘outing’ bad apples – and rising from the ruin …..

… Someone put a bad apple in her bag once, and although she was sure people could tell something was wrong, she didn’t show anyone the apple because it was so bad – and she worried it would make them feel bad too.

The little girl’s greatest fear became that if she ever took the bad apple out, or someone discovered it, they wouldn’t want her anymore.  They’d think she was bad.  She forever longed for someone to  get rid of the bad apples for her.

On most days, she wished the bad apples had been put in someone else’s bag.

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November 16, 2020 - Army of Ink Wings On Feet

 

Army of ink 94 wings on feet

Imagine having wings on your feet….

You’d never be trodden on again.  You’d be able to see exactly what was coming.  Where you were going.  And always have a safe place to fly up, up and away from it all.  

Footnote:   Sometimes imagining we have super powers or a super power watching over us can get us through a tough spot (Mary Poppins ‘spit, spot’ comes to mind).  Wings on feet?  Astro Boy?  Maybe it leaves her hands free?  To do what?  Take the world off her shoulders perhaps?  But there’s no world in the drawing?  Maybe others can’t see how much the weight of the world affects her – she feels it alone.   Or could it be a muscle man (woman) pose?  Flexing her muscles and being strong?  Or it could be a shrug – ‘I don’t know, don’t ask me? I don’t have all the answers.’   And with wings on her feet she’s forever safe from falling – being hurt.  Up, up and away is such a comforting thought when things get tough.

(Clunk & Jam book, 2019.  Reposted from 2014).

March 15, 2020 - Army of Ink Dream Time

 

 

Army of Ink Salute .

It is these inky things that stand me up when I slip up back.  Show me forward into places I wouldn’t go all by myself.  Write the wrongs through poems and songs.  Create picture books of what I can’t tell.  Hold me in a silent vigil when I bump and stop.  Slow a world too big ad fast into moments precious and still.

It is these inky things that turn the deep end into a puddle I can jump over.  Fear into something I can see.  Anger into rock the boat defiance (like a wee rabbit thumping its foot).  Shift loneliness into along wrapped in a nice warm blanket.  Shrink pain to a hurt more my size.  Make difference and smallness fell like a snug old fit.  Every knock a trip to somewhere new.

And when night arrives … they snuggle beneath my pillow soft like a hidden treat.  Riding the rise and fall of a slumbering breath.  Catching sweet dreams and soft sounds that awaken a brand new day.

 

(Reposted from 2010.   See also,  ‘Peacemakers Plot’, ‘Once Upon A Dark Time‘.    All Army of Ink here. In Clunk & Jam book, 2019.  Original handwriting by Mags, with a chook feather from Ruth’s farm in Yallingup, Western Australia for handmade book, ‘Rock The Boat’, 2009.)