After Alex... (New Years Eve 2019, NYC . 9412)

After Alex... (New Years Eve 2019, NYC . 9412)

.
You pointed out the light as we went on a walk that afternoon.
Which is why I name this 'after' you.
You stopped at every place I asked you to and never looked bored, nor were impatient.
It was the last day of the year.
We were invited to a party, but I said that I preferred to just be with you.
You smiled in agreeance as we headed back to your place and ordered in.
We drank to celebrate life and us.
I tried to keep up with you, and ended up on the bathroom floor at 3am.
I should have known better.
It was a good reminder to be myself when I am with you.
It was a good reminder that I don't need to impress you,
as you accept and love me just as I am,
as I do you.
.
We woke up together on New Days day.
I felt the luckiest person in the world.
Not because I didn't have a hangover,
But because you had your arms around me.
We lay in bed for ages
just being with each other.

It was the perfect start to a new year.

copyright matthew schiavello 2020

Great news for us men, we still earn more than women. In other news scrotoplasty demand set to skyrocket!

On the 27th of October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the “Characteristics of Employment, Australia, August 2014” and the breaking news is that women still earn a lot less than men. While this was true for all age groups, women aged between 35-44 can expect, on average, to earn $642 a week, less than men. It seems that this a good time to be a man!

Some have cheekily speculated that this may prompt an increased demand for gender reassignment surgery. Savvy females are expected to make a mad rush towards scrotoplasty as they chase equal pay! The desire to make the same money as males is not limited  by age. Edna Crabapple, 58 of Thornbury, stood at the front of her local greengrocer and yelled at passing males-“I want what you have and I won't take no!” Jerry Hallwell, 29 of Berwick, feels this may be a much easier way to finally get a pay rise and at the same time lessening her workload! Ms Hallwell said “I was going to apply yet again for a promotion at work, but worried the many hours I would put into preparing for the interview, would again come to naught due to competing against males. I have always lost to my male colleagues in the past, who did half as much work, were less qualified and were half as bright!” Ms Hallwell feels that you need balls to get ahead in business and instead of whinging and having things stay the same, she has decided to take the bull by the proverbial, and to make change by changing! Jane Manse, 38 of  High St, North Fitzroy (who would like to remain anonymous), has always felt that she was in the wrong gendered body and worries that the gender reassignment surgery she has been putting off, due to binge watching her favourite television programs on Crapflix, will now be even further away as the expected raising demand for surgery blows waiting lists out.

This will come as good news for share holders in publicly listed gender reassignment surgerys/ boutiques. Jeff Hood, CEO of 'Snip and Stitch' who's motto is 'fixing what God botched', has denied this article is a beat up designed to boost flagging stock prices. Males unable to read between the lines, see this as a great opportunity for the smart male to invest their extra $642 per week, into well performing and future blue chip stock - Snip and Tuck Limited. There is some bad news though for women hoping to jump on the gravy train of malehood, unfortunately gender reassignment surgery is expensive and not covered by medicare.

When asked why such important surgery is not included under medicare, the honourable ex Prime Minister A Butt, has been quoted as saying “If this expensive procedure was funded through medicare, people may take advantage of the system and we could have an explosion of people changing genders willy nilly". His esteemed Liberal predecessor supported this view and felt that people changing genders willy nilly, or doing anything willy nilly at the tax payers expense, was un-Australian. He then hastily added,  unless of course the person was an elected official representing the people. 

Janice Jones, manager at the Department of Births, Deaths and Marriages, worries that her department is already overworked and the significant increase in workload, due to updating the gender in birth certificates, would be too much for her small department to handle. "Being a small department, the increase in work would be too much for us",She is quoted as saying. Barry Hogg from the Department of Human Suffering, says he can help. “We can assist Mrs Jones', née Hogg's, department, by sending them some illiterate and ill-matched-to-the-role job seekers as part of 'the work for the dole program'". Mr Hogg added "As they are only paid an hourly rate of 70 cents or less, and are forced to participate or else have their unemployment payments cut off, these lazy bludgers are a godsend for my mates and siblings in businesses, who shouldn't have to pay minimum wage, especially when it impacts on their profit margins!", he later corrected himself and said that he meant to say that the work for the dole program provides cost effective employment and skills training for the unemployed and makes them 'job ready'. 

Getting back to medicare, male feminists have joined in on the call for medicare to cover gender reassignment surgery. Mary Craig told us that many other men in his biweekly sewing-circle group, share his hope that they can one day finally, really feel what it is like to be a women oppressed by the patriarchy. When asked if he realised that he would be effectively taking a $642 a week pay cut as a female, Mr Craig spluttered "no" as he dropped a stitch. He then added that it could be just as effective to imagine what it is to be like a woman, than actually having surgery to be one.

matthew schiavello. 2015.

Written by me, matthew schiavello for my compulsory 'work for dole' activity. I own all copyright (2015). I am 'paid' 69 cents an hour to participate in this compulsory activity, which is writing for 'community' publications. Unfortunately my activity has no training attached, they know nothing about me or my work/education background (luckily for me I took some journalism subjects back in university). I have to write and submit at least one article a week for use in one of two particular publications. For my compulsory 15 hours of work a week (and article submission/s), I am paid a total of $10.40. Outside of this, I also am looking and applying for actual jobs which are a 'good fit' for my skills and temperament.  I have no idea why these jobs (writing for community publications) are not going to journalists, or even student journalists and paying them an appropriate wage!  Why is our government creating and supporting such exploitative programs?

We seem to live in a civilised society which thinks it is acceptable to exploit the disadvantaged and the creative. Why are jobs being taken out of the job market and filled instead with forced slave labour? Who benefits from people being paid  69 cents an hour?  I hear support in the media and on talk back radio, for these 'work for the dole' programs, why aren't we or our government instead focusing on creating jobs and/or helping people find jobs which are a good fit for them, which treat them with respect and dignity and which pays a fair living wage? Isn't that the Australian thing to do, rather than encourage and support forced slave labour?

If you know of any jobs going in the community sector which have a creative element to them, which are supportive and respectful of the disadvantaged and which pays a fair living wage, please keep me in mind! 

My resume is on Linked in: matthew-schiavello

My artistic/creative folio is here:  http://www.matthewschiavello.com/

Matthew.

"The birds will sing for us." for A. K.

"The birds will sing for us."  for A. K.

The birds will sing for us.

They will say what you cannot.

What gets stuck in your throat,

will easily flow through theirs

and their song,

will be as beautiful,

as your intent.

                                             For my love, who loves birds.
                                                     Fitzroy (18/02/15)


Photograph from my instagram site- matthew_schiavello and taken by me.
Words and photographs copyright matthew schiavello
The title 'the birds will sing from us', inspired and taken from the Ed Harcourt track of the same title.

The News

The news   (29/06/14)

It was a Sunday

I remember it was raining as you got into my car.

You plonked yourself into the passenger seat and stared straight ahead.

Your eyes fixed themselves on the grey wetness that sat on the other side of the windscreen.

From out of nowhere

 you tensely stated

 “I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just blurt it out…”

Everything seemed to stop as my mind raced.

I thought of everything you were possibly going to say…

Well, ‘everything’ which was centred around your rejection of me.

It seems I thought of everything except 

this.

It took me a while to realise that your lips had stopped moving.

In all honesty, I wasn’t completely surprised by the news,

I was confused

by what was happening here, here right now.

Your eyes darted towards mine and then as quickly, darted back towards the rain hitting the windscreen,

Except… you were looking past it.

Your body tensed, as if readying itself to open the car door and flee at any moment.

We were still parked out the front of your apartment.

The lines above your tense eyes read, ‘In a few steps I could escape to the safety of  home’.

Upon reflection,

 I guess you were worried that I would reject you, maybe you even feared it.

I turned to you and smiled.

I loved you just the same.

We hugged and I wanted to kiss you,

Back then, it would have been our first.

Even now, the only thing I still don’t understand,

Is why it was you and not me.

It should have been me,

For all the many reasons you will never need to know.

copyright matthew schiavello 2014

For him, the man who broke my heart.

There is nothing like love and loss to stir one to write again. Here are a handful of some recent writings, presented in chronological order. In case you are wondering, no, he never saw or knew of these.


       ----

You worry about the cold Melbourne winters,
worry not.
I will warm you

I will weave for you
whatever you need
out of my overflowing love
that has waited for so long.


       ----

I'd sing you a song,
or write you a poem,
of my love
and my hope of a life together.

But I fear
you would not listen
nor enjoy it for what it was.
Instead you would
compare
it to what you had,
or to the fantasy
of what might be.

       ----


If I could open my heart
and show it's trueness to you
Give you my eyes,
So that you know I see
your faults
and that I love you
regardless....

would that then be enough?

       ----


I am writing about you
because
I am
not over you,

yet.

But soon hope to be,
as do similarly hope
my friends and family
for they don't believe
you worth my time

or

theirs.

       ----

The problem with absence,
is that it makes
the heart grow fonder.

The problem with time, is that
memories fade and
hurt heals.

The problem with the present, is
your boyish charm
and warm smile,
remind me
how attracted I am
and how much I cared.


       ----


Now that I am free,
now that I am happy
(or at least telling myself I am),
I don't wish you ill,
just insight
and that one day
you may feel motivated
and strong enough
to change.
Not for me,
but for you
and for him, whoever he may be.


       ----


all words copyright matthew schiavello 2014.

Why I love you (parts i-iii).

Why I love you (parts i-iii).

i

When we first met,

my love was like
something gaudy,
well... gaudy for you.

It was like

a brightly coloured
floral bouquet

and dare I add,
always bursting forth.

Those moments when it did,
you would always turn

to look over your shoulder

to see who else bore witness.

And each time, you took those flowers quickly.
Almost as if, you didn't want others to see.

One corner of your mouth would turn and sneer,

the other raised in a smile.

That’s why I love you,

You’re as tough as nails                                 

But you’re not.

ii

You’d tear others down in a heartbeat,

Tear them down so bad,

they couldn’t be re-built,

But never me.

In my darkest days,

You lifted me up into the light.

'One day', I thought, 'I hope you'll let others in,

To see the real you'.

But for now, I’m guiltily glad,

I’m the only one.

You’re as tough as all hell,

But you’re not.
I always knew it
but saw it most,
when I had to leave
and that's why I love you.

iii


All those years away, 

you said,

never made you love me less.

Except you didn’t use the word love,

you never do

But you were there for me

And that’s the same thing.

We never talk about what happened,

But if we wanted to, we could.

I would also tell you
that the memory of you

Got me through
that terrible time.

And though you never visited,

You were there

Waiting for me
when I was finally able to return.

You stood at the front of that cursed place

Smiled and hugged me tight.

We kissed like it had been forever.

I said I love you and a tear slipped out.
I smelt of institutions.

You didn’t look over your shoulder that day,

You just held me tighter.

I remember thinking

how I wished that everyone who talked you down

could see you now

and maybe they would finally understand

why I’ve always loved you

(and why I always will).

copyright matthew schiavello 2013