A teacher once asked a preschool student what job do you want to do when you grow up. The preschool student replied, “an artist.”
The teacher laughed and said, “you’ll never be rich.”
The student replied, “No, you’ve been to university, studied hard and know everything that you’ve ever been taught, you’ll never be rich.”
Many years later the teacher was invited to a children’s book launch written and illustrated by the student. Original paintings of the illustrations were for sale for thousands of dollars and this was the student’s 6th book and the student was now an internationally recognised children’s book author and illustrator.
The following is a copy of my first published book “The flea and the dinosaur.” It is currently out of print but the story and illustrations were all done by me. I will republish it again in the future.
Many millions of years ago, way before you and me, Tyrannosaurus Rex was born, he was bigger than a tree. About the same time flea was born, rainbow fairy flea but small and super powerful filled with joy and glee. Tyrannosaur grey and brown strong and forcefully went around tearing things down like a big bully
Today I saw a dinosaur laughing at a flea, it looked down and said, “you’re not as strong as me”…………
The flea said to the dinosaur, “do you want to pick a fight?”
“One thousand times my height I jump. you can’t jump with all your might.”
The flea said to the dinosaur, “I have a super skin and I can bite you anywhere my teeth will sink right in.”
The flea said to tyrannosaur, “I can be a little snitch and I will bite you on the bum and I will make you itch”
The flea said to the dinosaur, “you can move about but I’m 100 times as fast as you that’s without a doubt.”
The flea jumped on the dinosaur and bit him on the knee. “I’m so much more than you think don’t you mess with me.”
The flea jumped on the dinosaur and bit him in the eye. The dinosaur shed a tear and then began to cry.
Today I heard a dinosaur say, “sorry” to a flea, “without a doubt you are so much more powerful than me.”
The flea said to the dinosaur, ”don’t laugh at others too because little guys are much more powerful than forceful ones like you.”
The flea said to the Dinosaur, “you can’t run away, nowhere to run nowhere to hide have a lovely day.”
The flea bit tyrannosaur and the dinosaurs all died and great big bullies fade away and get fried by little guys
Today I saw a dinosaur get beaten by a flea. Big mean bullies disappeared but loving joyful fleas dance free.
I finished writing this poem at 1:33, dinosaurs became extinct but fleas still live free.
I too was like the teacher once. I was a teacher and happy to take an hourly wage/salary with annual leave, sick days, superannuation of 17% and all the perks that come with a government teaching job. By the time I was 44 I had had over 50 different jobs. Then one November day in 2014 I returned home to find the roof had blown off my home. I decided to buy a double decker bus named Atlantis and go travelling and giving away free books. I lived on the smell of an oily rag, collecting and giving away free books for over 2 years until the bus broke down in Nimbin. I had started writing and my drawing skills had developed while I was living in Atlantis.
Nimbin had a great poetry scene and while I was living there I decided to illustrate and publish “The Flea and the Dinosaur.” I also published two volumes of poetry “Love in Nimbin” and “Lust in Nimbin” more recently I also published “Poetry to End Prohibition 420 2020” They are all available by following the links to Amazon.
In February 2020 I passed through Guyra on the way back to Nimbin. I had been to the Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Competition in Orange. Here in Guyra I stopped for a walk and found an amazing empty theatre. A month later I returned to open the Australian Poetry Hall of Fame on the 24th of March 2020 which was Australia’s first day of COVID19 lockdown. It was a surreal experience moving to a new town to open business and suddenly finding the town deserted. However, 16 months later I am still here and I have just got around to opening “Seahorse Medicine Cafe here to serve vegetarian and vegan food as well as tea, coffee, soup and juices. People ask where I got the name “Seahorse Medicine” from. I have 3 unpublished volumes of children’s animal poetry by the same title.
I was told by a friend in 2016 that I have Seahorse Medicine in me. I had no idea what she was talking about at the time but now I do. I haven’t set a timeline to publish the Seahorse Medicine poetry but I have opened the cafe. Running/setting up the Australian Poetry Hall of Fame, a cafe, writing and publishing keeps me extremely occupied but they are all things that I enjoy doing.
That is what creatives do. They open their heart and do what they love. Create. Create some more and create even more. We use our creative abilities to bring joy, love and colour to the world, even when everything seems like it is going down the toilet, we will paint the toilet in bright colours. I wrote the following piece of poetry for my son’s birthday because I love him and also wanted to inspire him as well as other people. After he read it he thanked me and said “dad, that’s a good poem because it can be applied to different situations.”
I replied, “Yep.”
There may be times when the world seems mad
There will be times when you are feeling sad
But you’re strong, courageous, and in control
You can dig yourself out of any deep hole
Relax and breathe deep for a start
Let go and breathe into your heart
The toughest times might be a test
To center your self, become your best
Version of you that you can fashion
Make unconditional love your passion
From adversity we all can grow
Compassionate when cold winds blow
After cold windy winter the sun will shine
Flowers will bloom in the warm Spring time
With long warm days in the summer my friends
Winter might be cold but it always ends.
Thundercloud bring torrential rains
Rainbows shine after all our pains
Storms only ever last a few hours
New growth happens after showers
When it’s wet you can still have fun
Jumping in puddles and going for a run
When you’re cold and wet please don’t cry
Water and tears will always dry
When winds blow, and rain falls from above
We can all still smile in unconditional love
Regardless of the madness and fear
You’ll be the one to shine your light this year.
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Atlantis Rainbow Art by Seb Humphreys 
Love in Nimbin by Thundercloud Repairian Love and Infinity in Nimbin for all eternity and for our corroborees of song and stories of our dreamings 
The tawny frogmouth came to me very late one night. 
Drawing of a seahorse by Thundercloud Repairian
Thundercloud Repairian 
Congratulations, James. I’m so glad you didn’t listen and you followed your heart. I know it felt amazing when you invited your old teacher to your book signing. I love to read blog posts like this one! Keep shining and don’t let anyone dull your sparkle!
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