the woodpecker
“life imitates art far more than art imitates life”
words from Oscar Wildes’ ‘The Decay of Lying’ were not swirling through my head one early misty morning. on the balcony with my hands wrapped around a cup of hot coffee, i was looking at the gray-blue sky trying to make sense of various questions in my head. my diary was open in front of me, the warm toasty blank pages beckoning me to spill my worries which i was just unable to do.
i started diarying two years ago
after spending an inordinate amount of time, acquiring a beautiful, Japanese hand-crafted Sailor pen from the QVB in Sydney and later, the also Japanese “Life” Company Noble Note Plain notebook from Dymocks. later that afternoon, i felt wonderful sitting on a bench watching the hustle and bustle of Sydney Harbour while the cold wind tumbled through my curly hair. i had not bought the notebook or the pen for the express purpose of a diary, but i felt overwhelmingly compelled to write down my thoughts… and so it began.
back to the balcony, after watching the sun slowly climb upwards through the clouds i began to write. forty minutes later i had no answers, had gone around in circles and was utterly confused. oh for heavens sake! i grumbled loudly. i suppose the Big Man, having exasperatedly watched me write out two pages of mayhem sent a sign
a woodpecker landed on the tall palm tree in front of me
and began as-you-please, merrily tap-tap-tapping away. in the ten years i have sat on this same balcony looking at these same trees, i have never seen a woodpecker! i was stunned and delighted. this bright little thing flitted from tree to tree pecking away, trying to make a crack and getting nowhere. after a while it just stopped, hung on thinking (which is when i got the picture) and then dashed off, its plumage a colourful streak in the sky.
it was around this time that the aha-moment struck - both of us unsuccessfully trying to break through; however, having seen the futility of it all, the smart little woodpecker buggered off to find a more amiable tree! so with that little lesson, i shut my book, leaving my worries for another day.
life does indeed imitate art (no puns intended for those sharp eyed readers) and in my particular case, to finish the quote, “but from the fact that the self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and that Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realise that energy”
the woodpecker did exactly that.
i saw a woodpecker today
who seemed to have much to say
he tap tap tapped
gave me a smile
and then solemnly flew away
