The Mark

THE MARK: The Australian Game A Thirteen Part Doco-Drama for Television by Paul Smith A Sherrin football flies through the air, in slow-motion - Jimmy's hands and face come into view as he catches the ball and cries 'mark'! In the back alley Jimmy falls to the ground, rolls over clutching the ball and bumps into a pair of legs. He looks up and sees his Grandpa Stan staring down at him. The Rooneys are a typical battling Melbourne family...their lives revolve around work and the struggle to survive in these unsettling times...a struggle made bearable through religion (Australian Rules Football). Their lives and love of this great game form the basis for this intriguing series blending:1. The contemporary life of the Rooneys during an A.F.L. season. 2. The historical drama of the family from the eighteen hundreds.3. Documentary footage, interviews and re-enactments to tell the fascinating story of Australian Rules Football and the concurrent development of Australian culture and character. A contemporary and historical drama showing the evolution of Australia for the past 160 years and of a typical Australian family and the tribal game as played by aborigines prior to the arrival of the white settlers to the fast, furious, big business sport that it is today. COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S VERSION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'."It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece inspired by the Creator of all." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran."Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author).Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages, including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, and others and poetry, fiction, plays, children's books and a dozen screenplays. New Humanity Books amazon.com/author/smithpa