Deb Curreen Author

  In the past five years I’ve written lines of bleakness wordy strings of worry lamentations upon the world, critiques of politicians' behavioural shame. Somber, has crept into my vocab, like sobriety into my fridge, or my own humility in a crowded room. I do not embrace these feelings of somberness. However, on a sunny day like this I get to dance with my moko boy, his face crinkling with joy, as he leaps in the air spreading magic. He is my aroha mai in gumboots.   Yet, the news still stinks, creeping in my room, sending out shocks of gloom, while I scan the horizon for warships and I search the seashore for polar bears who’ve lost their way. Misery has stolen my pen, it’s time to make fun of life, tease some friend, make the somberness end. I'm about to create some tom-fluckery, have a laugh, ‘cos if you’ve ever seen me dance, you know I’m not somber... I dance like a three year old boy in gumboots.  

I have just watched the Dylan movie, starring Timothee Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown.” I enjoyed hearing those old songs again and getting a bit more context of their creation, having been a Dylan fan since last century, songs that I have loved for many a year. The movie celebrated his musical success while only briefly touching on his formative years and significant relationships with women, notably Joan Baez but also, for the first time we see the complicated and doomed affair with Sylvie. Dylan read the movie script right through, met with the director to discuss the narrative and add some of his own before gave it the nod saying, "Go with God". Whether he has viewed the movie, to date, I do not know. Remember this is the man that famously won the Nobel Peace Prize  in Literature 2016, “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”, then did not go to the award ceremony to receive his fabulous prize.  Bob Dylan has always been inte...