Kerry Power 2009

My quote this year is from The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin Boaz:

‘Everyone in the world is looking for something,’ said Jachin-Boaz to Boaz-Jachin, ‘and by means of maps each thing that is found is never lost again’....

‘If everything that is found is never lost again, there will be an end to finding some day,’ said Boaz-Jachin. ‘Some day there will be nothing left to find.’

...on Yellow A4, Platform 3 Parliament Station, Melbourne.


Webmaster's note: apologies to Kerry for the late posting of this 4qation.

Kerry Power 2008

On yellow paper, placed in Parliament Station, platform 4, Melbourne Underground:

The real reality, the flickering of seen and unseen actualities, the moment under the moment, can't be put into words; the most a writer can do - and this is only rarely achieved - is to write in such a way that the reader finds himself in a place where the unwordable happens off the page.

from The Moment under The Moment
(foreword)

Kerry Power 2007

This year I chose the opening paragraph from The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz. It is somewhat special as it is the first paragraph of Russ' adult books I ever read. It is quite beautiful.

There are no lions any more. There had been lions once. Sometimes in the shimmer of the heat on the plains the motion of their running still flickered on the dry wind - tawny, great, and quickly gone. Sometimes the honey-coloured moon shivered to the silence of a ghost-roar on the rising air.

from The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz

Left on a seat, platform 4, Parliament Station, Melbourne.

Kerry Power 2006

This year I chose a quotation from The Mouse and his Child:

There's nothing beyond the last visible dog but us.

Yearly trek down to the Melbourne underground, Parliament Station, the bench seat, Platform 4.

Kerry Power 2005

Hi,

I have included two quotes this year. The first from Fremder. I love the idea of the mystery in the spaces of black between the pictures.

Being is not a steady state but an occulting one: we are all of us a succession of stillness blurring into motion on the wheel of action, and it is in those spaces of black between the pictures that we find the heart of mystery in which we are never allowed to rest.

from Fremder

The second quote is the opening line of Riddley Walker. I have included it because so many people have discovered Russ through Riddley Walker. This opening line is such a challenge. You can choose then and there to stop (eg., its too hard at first glance) or to read on...and so begin a journey of wondrous discovery.

On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen.

from Riddley Walker

Once again (four years in a row now) I descended to the Melbourne Underground, and left the yellow A4 on a seat, platform 4, Parliament Station, Melbourne.

Kerry Power 2004

It has taken me a little while to my quote post this year, but here it is.....

I decided to choose a quote from Fremder for SA4QE 2004 after reading it again in 2003. It is a great book - and underrated! I was happy and surprised to later find that the quote has made appearances in each of the previous SA4QE events. I guess over the years we Krakenites may have to begin monitoring the most quotable quotes. This quote has now made appearances in the USA, Europe and Australia at least!

As per previous years on February 4th, during lunch hour at work, I wandered down to nearby Parliament Station in Melbourne and left the yellow A4 on a seat on Platform 4.

More and more I find life is a series of disappearances followed usually but not always by reappearances; you disappear from your morning self and reappear as your afternoon self; you disappear from feeling good and reappear feeling bad. And people, even face to face and clasped in each other's arms, disappear from each other.

- from Fremder
page 32

See you again next year!

Kerry Power 2003

Hi everyone,

I was tempted after "Trubba Not" last year to add "No Trubba" this year, but I am hoping this is something the UN Security Council is more likely to say.

...then I remembered loving a chapter toward the end of Angelica's Grotto and how it was vintage Hoban... so I chose a line from this chapter (48: "Loomings"):

You said you were going to tell me about the more.

The thing about the more is that it comes after what comes before it. When it's ready it'll make itself known.

- from ANGELICA'S GROTTO

I followed my approach of last year and ventured back to the Underground - it just seems appropriate (my own reverential Hoban tradition for SA4QE) to leave it there, on a seat, platform 4, Parliament Station, Melbourne.

See you next year!!!

Kerry Power 2002

Placed in underground train:

Trubba Not

- from RIDDLEY WALKER

I first read Riddley soon after it was available here in Oz and I found the language fascinating... RW is a great book to read out loud... I encouraged my friends to read the book and soon we were using a few words from the book, like Arga Warga and Comping Station (we worked in insurance!)... but the most common words we used were “Trubba not”...it has now become a part of my own family sayings... I say “Trubba not” and the kids respond “No Trubba”, even though they have not yet read RW or his adult books - they know him quite well from Frances, The Mouse and His Child and other “kids” books.

So, when it came to selecting a RH quote, this seemed to be the logical choice - it contains the simple innocence of Riddley and if we think about it hard enough, the two words have a depth about them that we could all find comfort from in today's world. If only we could go to the UN and say “Trubba Not” and all the countries of the world reply “No Trubba”.

Kerry Power - profile

General Manager, Health Care, Transport Accident Commission, Melbourne, Australia