It’s the last day of everything
Summer has crept out the back door
Words taste salty on my tongue
The baby has woken a song
His hands found the words hiding
in their shape like a diamond
In the sky light is fleeting shadows pass
Laundry flaps on the line the end
Of the world and nothing is dry
Now I think about it nothing
Ever dried not completely you
Can’t enter the sleeve for dampness
The time for drying is done
In this peeling wooden house at
The fierce edge of disappointment
Things that will not end well include
The unrisen cake the fridge left open
This mineral poem
Words taste salty on my tongue
It’s the last day of everything
I don’t know what memory is for
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
the silk of sisters
everything fragile
and the mirror is the world
this is the fairytale
I never told you
and it is coming true
the pride, the fall
the sideways sweep
see how it frames you?
your eyes haunt your face
and the mirror is the world
this is the fairytale
I never told you
and it is coming true
the pride, the fall
the sideways sweep
see how it frames you?
your eyes haunt your face
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Dromana Poems
Rickets Point Arthur Streeton, 1890DAY
1.
sea gull
gullup
brackwater
glooming algae
storm carry
spillaway
2.
seasky
flatlines
3.
shimmer light
heat glaze
long shallow deep
ironstitched
ghost ship
making waves
4.
look what
wash up
sea
two daughter
one son
one man
far out
NIGHT
1.
sun set pastiche
80s retro
2.
late night
babywalking
one house
up lit
late night
big shed
kid red
icypole
3.
young man
out with friends
no ID
4.
foreshore fireworks
city sky falling
5.
us out
afterdark
streets store
tomorrow’s heat
---
We had a night in Dromana at my sister-in-law's husband's family's holiday house. The painting above is actually Beaumaris, not Dromana, but looking out at the hazy heat this morning, Streeton's paintings were in my head.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The BFFs hit their late 30s
For Z
She lives on the island
of our shared childhood
Something is making her sad
She's been brained
By the gods of trouble
An ocean is not impossible
We could go for gold
In the telephone olympics
If days were dealt
Like hands of cards
I used to get
A royal flush of her
Now she draws
A two of kids (and me a three)
There's hearts and spades
(labour, love)
Not many diamonds between us
And now she's clubbed
Oh gods of chemical sadness
Watch out
My voice is in her head too
She lives on the island
of our shared childhood
Something is making her sad
She's been brained
By the gods of trouble
An ocean is not impossible
We could go for gold
In the telephone olympics
If days were dealt
Like hands of cards
I used to get
A royal flush of her
Now she draws
A two of kids (and me a three)
There's hearts and spades
(labour, love)
Not many diamonds between us
And now she's clubbed
Oh gods of chemical sadness
Watch out
My voice is in her head too
Friday, January 27, 2012
Rhubarb
for Kelly Gardiner
1.
A clutch of rhubarb, pale green, rose blush.
Heirloom: divided from her uncle’s crown
And dispersed among the family, now grown
In this garden plot, so green and lush.
The bush, the river. Summer’s fertile hush.
We drank coffee, talked of writing, and now
She cuts me several stalks to carry down
To where the car is parked. There is no rush.
The vegetable bouquet fills my front seat.
I take it home and cook it, soft and sweet,
In the cast iron pot that was my mum’s.
Perhaps the bub will have this as a treat
Or it could be a foil to fatty meat
Look how dark and deep the colour runs.
The evening holds the heat, I sweat and stir,
And think of the mild morning spent with her.
2.
So, in the fourteenth century the seeds
Were worth far more than opium, it’s said,
Indeed a potent drug from what I’ve read
It cured fevers, plagues and serviced other needs.
In the early eighteen hundreds close to Leeds
An apothecary finally got ahead
By learning how to grow it in a shed
Now rhubarb grows as easily as weeds.
They used as you’d expect good horse manure
“Night soil” was also merde du jour.
Let’s move on! And turn to other art
Now sugar was more readily procured
A recipe from sources quite obscure
Says cook it as one would a gooseberry tart.
In my dad’s wartime town a household tried
To stew, like chard, the leaves. They sadly died.
1.
A clutch of rhubarb, pale green, rose blush.
Heirloom: divided from her uncle’s crown
And dispersed among the family, now grown
In this garden plot, so green and lush.
The bush, the river. Summer’s fertile hush.
We drank coffee, talked of writing, and now
She cuts me several stalks to carry down
To where the car is parked. There is no rush.
The vegetable bouquet fills my front seat.
I take it home and cook it, soft and sweet,
In the cast iron pot that was my mum’s.
Perhaps the bub will have this as a treat
Or it could be a foil to fatty meat
Look how dark and deep the colour runs.
The evening holds the heat, I sweat and stir,
And think of the mild morning spent with her.
2.
So, in the fourteenth century the seeds
Were worth far more than opium, it’s said,
Indeed a potent drug from what I’ve read
It cured fevers, plagues and serviced other needs.
In the early eighteen hundreds close to Leeds
An apothecary finally got ahead
By learning how to grow it in a shed
Now rhubarb grows as easily as weeds.
They used as you’d expect good horse manure
“Night soil” was also merde du jour.
Let’s move on! And turn to other art
Now sugar was more readily procured
A recipe from sources quite obscure
Says cook it as one would a gooseberry tart.
In my dad’s wartime town a household tried
To stew, like chard, the leaves. They sadly died.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Let them come: an Aussie "bush" ballad for Australia Day
Inspired by Firstdog
There's a small wooden boat that is barely afloat
On an ocean of sorrow and dreams.
While Australians vote, the PM clears her throat
And hope comes apart at the seams.
They will never arrive, neither dead nor alive,
If our politics bring them undone.
Let their dreaming survive, let their drowned one's revive,
Let them come, oh let them all come!
The borders aren't there, it's just water and air,
And land, water, air should be free.
There's plenty to share in this place "rich and rare",
And after all, we all came here by sea.
So let that boat reach us, let us learn what they'll teach us,
Let them come, oh please let them come.
And when they beseech us, let's not give them speeches,
Let us take them, let's take every one.
Yes we'll pack up the lies, let ourselves recognise
Our own selves in the depths of their faces.
In welcoming skies let a blue flag arise:
Shelter here, in our wide open spaces.
There's a small wooden boat that is barely afloat
On an ocean of sorrow and dreams.
While Australians vote, the PM clears her throat
And hope comes apart at the seams.
They will never arrive, neither dead nor alive,
If our politics bring them undone.
Let their dreaming survive, let their drowned one's revive,
Let them come, oh let them all come!
The borders aren't there, it's just water and air,
And land, water, air should be free.
There's plenty to share in this place "rich and rare",
And after all, we all came here by sea.
So let that boat reach us, let us learn what they'll teach us,
Let them come, oh please let them come.
And when they beseech us, let's not give them speeches,
Let us take them, let's take every one.
Yes we'll pack up the lies, let ourselves recognise
Our own selves in the depths of their faces.
In welcoming skies let a blue flag arise:
Shelter here, in our wide open spaces.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Synopsis
It’s a city, it’s an island, this girl is looking for her cat.
She’s also being haunted, I should probably mention that.
A girl she knew in high school, but didn’t know that well
It’s all a kind of metaphor for some kinda sorta hell
I think she’s got a boyfriend, in fact they share a flat.
But mostly what she’s doing is she’s looking for her cat.
She’s also being haunted, I should probably mention that.
A girl she knew in high school, but didn’t know that well
It’s all a kind of metaphor for some kinda sorta hell
I think she’s got a boyfriend, in fact they share a flat.
But mostly what she’s doing is she’s looking for her cat.
A poem by Una
On Your Own
A girl plays softly on the piano
Nobody’s around
And everybody’s out of harm
The light shines on to the painting
As you look at it and stare
The painting makes you feel calm
The sunlight shines in the painting
You can almost see it move
As you look at her
She’s concentrating
She doesn’t know she’s being painted
She plays as the birds fly around
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
the long-dead artist's widow
For Daphne
We’re here to take the children that your husband made of light,
Every brave and dancing dazzle a strike against the dark.
Here – a boy emerges from the shadows in the park,
And here a girl leans over, in lemon sun, to write.
These children have been pressed together, hidden out of sight,
We weigh them up and balance them, beauty strange and stark,
Every brave and dancing dazzle a strike against the dark,
We’re here to take the children that your husband made of light.
We’ll hang them in the lounge room, or the hallway where it’s bright,
They’ll live in our whole vision, every glimmer, every spark.
We’ll visit with our infant son your place of mud and bark
We’ll tap on glass, and peer inside: you’re sturdy, but you’re slight.
We’re here to take the children that your husband made of light.
---
Today Martin and I did a wonderful and strangely poignant thing, we went to visit his Great Aunt whose husband was a wonderful artist in the post-war years and came home with six paintings and two sketches after sorting through, oh, hundreds with all the sketches. It was amazing looking through the work, selecting which ones we wanted to keep - a once in a lifetime opportunity. I love that they are all of children of varying ages (the one in "lemon light" is a very young grown up), and they all suggest inner-reflection, a depth of experience that the artist respectfully observes from a distance, without intrusion. She lives in a mudbrick house in Wandin that her husband and his brother (also a painter) built soon after WW2. A magical place. It is some many years since David died, and Daphne recently decided she would rather give the paintings to family who know and care about the subjects in the painting (mostly their five children) than try and sell them.
We’re here to take the children that your husband made of light,
Every brave and dancing dazzle a strike against the dark.
Here – a boy emerges from the shadows in the park,
And here a girl leans over, in lemon sun, to write.
These children have been pressed together, hidden out of sight,
We weigh them up and balance them, beauty strange and stark,
Every brave and dancing dazzle a strike against the dark,
We’re here to take the children that your husband made of light.
We’ll hang them in the lounge room, or the hallway where it’s bright,
They’ll live in our whole vision, every glimmer, every spark.
We’ll visit with our infant son your place of mud and bark
We’ll tap on glass, and peer inside: you’re sturdy, but you’re slight.
We’re here to take the children that your husband made of light.
---
Today Martin and I did a wonderful and strangely poignant thing, we went to visit his Great Aunt whose husband was a wonderful artist in the post-war years and came home with six paintings and two sketches after sorting through, oh, hundreds with all the sketches. It was amazing looking through the work, selecting which ones we wanted to keep - a once in a lifetime opportunity. I love that they are all of children of varying ages (the one in "lemon light" is a very young grown up), and they all suggest inner-reflection, a depth of experience that the artist respectfully observes from a distance, without intrusion. She lives in a mudbrick house in Wandin that her husband and his brother (also a painter) built soon after WW2. A magical place. It is some many years since David died, and Daphne recently decided she would rather give the paintings to family who know and care about the subjects in the painting (mostly their five children) than try and sell them.
Monday, January 23, 2012
We enter the green forests where treeferns
We enter the green forests where treeferns unfurl secret desire – long of tongue. Lichen scales a Mountain Ash like second skin.
Valleys plunge and mountains swell.
Cicadas scream: warn us that we will be lost.
We are lost, we are travelling into the past, a little faster than walking pace.
We are looking for ourselves waving at crossroads. We lean out, we wave, we are looking.
There’s someone at a back fence, their garden grows towards us, three grown ladies: a triptych of daughter, mother, grandmother.
They solemnly wave. Is that us, I wonder, waving frantically, is that us? Which one am I?
I am still waving, though the train’s long gone. I go inside with my mother, with my daughter and pour each of us a cup of amber tea, leaves drift below the surface.
The forest is still growing. I can hear it from my kitchen. The whispering of stringybark, the throaty husk of fernsong. I have forgotten to tell you about the birds.
Valleys plunge and mountains swell.
Cicadas scream: warn us that we will be lost.
We are lost, we are travelling into the past, a little faster than walking pace.
We are looking for ourselves waving at crossroads. We lean out, we wave, we are looking.
There’s someone at a back fence, their garden grows towards us, three grown ladies: a triptych of daughter, mother, grandmother.
They solemnly wave. Is that us, I wonder, waving frantically, is that us? Which one am I?
I am still waving, though the train’s long gone. I go inside with my mother, with my daughter and pour each of us a cup of amber tea, leaves drift below the surface.
The forest is still growing. I can hear it from my kitchen. The whispering of stringybark, the throaty husk of fernsong. I have forgotten to tell you about the birds.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Villanelle for an outer suburb
From outside there drifts the sound of hens,
The tv in the lounge room murmurs on,
And at the edge of things the light descends.
The next-door neighbours entertain their friends
In the late gold of January sun,
From outside there drifts the sound of hens.
And further down the street what’s broken mends
(a cup, an egg, a life, stuff come unspun)
And at the edge of things the light descends.
Across the road a marriage slowly ends,
At number twenty-four the worst is done,
From outside there drifts the sound of hens.
The road, you’ll see it narrows as it bends.
This is where the Wilsons lost a son.
And at the edge of things the light descends.
The shadow of each object looms, extends
The TV murmurs on and on and on
From outside there drifts the sound of hens
And at the edge of things the light descends.
The tv in the lounge room murmurs on,
And at the edge of things the light descends.
The next-door neighbours entertain their friends
In the late gold of January sun,
From outside there drifts the sound of hens.
And further down the street what’s broken mends
(a cup, an egg, a life, stuff come unspun)
And at the edge of things the light descends.
Across the road a marriage slowly ends,
At number twenty-four the worst is done,
From outside there drifts the sound of hens.
The road, you’ll see it narrows as it bends.
This is where the Wilsons lost a son.
And at the edge of things the light descends.
The shadow of each object looms, extends
The TV murmurs on and on and on
From outside there drifts the sound of hens
And at the edge of things the light descends.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
First Steps at Heide
Sunlight, grass, flowers; the world expands.
Stout with purpose he stands
Wobbles, steadies. Then without dramatic
Flair he takes a step. Two, three, four,
Observed not by me (I faced the other way).
He soon repeats the stunt, hands
Grasp air. These legs will bear him
all his life (god willing), through every door
Into the world of men, places
I will never follow [public toilets, his mates’ dark houses, his lovers’ houses of light, the apartment he rents for a month in France, the road flecked with butterflies that he drives down too fast on balmy nights, his honeymoon suite]
Anyway, it is done. Four erratic steps.
Unseen by me, but history made this note.
Stout with purpose he stands
Wobbles, steadies. Then without dramatic
Flair he takes a step. Two, three, four,
Observed not by me (I faced the other way).
He soon repeats the stunt, hands
Grasp air. These legs will bear him
all his life (god willing), through every door
Into the world of men, places
I will never follow [public toilets, his mates’ dark houses, his lovers’ houses of light, the apartment he rents for a month in France, the road flecked with butterflies that he drives down too fast on balmy nights, his honeymoon suite]
Anyway, it is done. Four erratic steps.
Unseen by me, but history made this note.
Friday, January 20, 2012
magnify
on closer inspection
I discover
an insect wing
stuck to your cheek
and I see you
for what you are
a surface
in this house of surfaces
the insect wing
is also a surface
translucent
webbed with dark veins
a mosaic
of tiny flecked surfaces
I pluck it from you
let it flutter
the floor
the final surface
which supports
everything
I discover
an insect wing
stuck to your cheek
and I see you
for what you are
a surface
in this house of surfaces
the insect wing
is also a surface
translucent
webbed with dark veins
a mosaic
of tiny flecked surfaces
I pluck it from you
let it flutter
the floor
the final surface
which supports
everything
Thursday, January 19, 2012
swimming lesson reprise: a sonnet
glitter
dim
swim
shatter
flutter
limb
skim
better
shoulder
breath
reach her
hold her
death
teach her
dim
swim
shatter
flutter
limb
skim
better
shoulder
breath
reach her
hold her
death
teach her
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
swimming lesson
that man
is teaching
my daughter
how to breathe
one two
three
scattering light,
her arms
seem too thin
to matter, but
she’s progressing
he scoops her body
suddenly sideways
against his large body
touches his cheek
to her cheek
I catch my breath
the surface of the pool
dazzles
chlorine smells
like slow time
amniotic
is teaching
my daughter
how to breathe
one two
three
scattering light,
her arms
seem too thin
to matter, but
she’s progressing
he scoops her body
suddenly sideways
against his large body
touches his cheek
to her cheek
I catch my breath
the surface of the pool
dazzles
chlorine smells
like slow time
amniotic
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Lullaby for sad girls
Press your head and listen to the deeps
The burrowing of Beetle as it creeps
Deep inside the tunnel where it sleeps.
Lay your head down on the pillow dear.
Light has gone and everything is drear
Listen with the pressing of an ear
Something down there sings so soft and clear
Sorry for this child as she weeps.
It’s night time darling, everybody sleeps,
In the morning, I will still be here.
The burrowing of Beetle as it creeps
Deep inside the tunnel where it sleeps.
Lay your head down on the pillow dear.
Light has gone and everything is drear
Listen with the pressing of an ear
Something down there sings so soft and clear
Sorry for this child as she weeps.
It’s night time darling, everybody sleeps,
In the morning, I will still be here.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Dave
His working life began with cleaning bricks
He'd lift them one by one and scrape them down
With mostly migrants, old Italians, Greeks,
Their forearms as thick as Christmas hams.
At lunch: spaghetti poured out from a thermos,
The talk, not rough or kind, of adult men,
The feel of brick dust scouring epidermis,
The unrelenting ache of labouring.
He spreads his teacher's hands as he tells this,
Hands for music, hands that help him speak.
Embarrassed, laughs, "I didn't last a week."
His head goes back, I watch him reminisce.
It's that old tale of boys becoming men;
Quite simply put, it didn't happen then.
He'd lift them one by one and scrape them down
With mostly migrants, old Italians, Greeks,
Their forearms as thick as Christmas hams.
At lunch: spaghetti poured out from a thermos,
The talk, not rough or kind, of adult men,
The feel of brick dust scouring epidermis,
The unrelenting ache of labouring.
He spreads his teacher's hands as he tells this,
Hands for music, hands that help him speak.
Embarrassed, laughs, "I didn't last a week."
His head goes back, I watch him reminisce.
It's that old tale of boys becoming men;
Quite simply put, it didn't happen then.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The Park
I had a daughter once, a pretty thing, I took her to the park.
She built a wild, living house at the base of some trees
and became an angry thing, and refused to leave.
I still drive past that old park sometimes, hoping to catch a glimpse.
Everything’s fallen into disrepair.
The slides enter the deep earth, the swings have swung off their chains.
All the ladders go nowhere.
She built a wild, living house at the base of some trees
and became an angry thing, and refused to leave.
I still drive past that old park sometimes, hoping to catch a glimpse.
Everything’s fallen into disrepair.
The slides enter the deep earth, the swings have swung off their chains.
All the ladders go nowhere.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Toby
That dog never gave us anything but despair
He snarled and bit. Every time the screen door opened,
He bolted. Once he got run over, and worse survived.
Something had gone wrong in the making of him, mum said.
Though frightened of gleaming tooth, I loved him.
He was a terrier, brown and silky with long blonde hairs
He could fit on a lap, he worshipped my mother,
He knew the words walk and cat. Shook hands.
Most of the time he was okay, as long as you kept
The door tight shut, and didn’t let him go a visitor.
He was unpredictable. I’ve loved men like him since,
Lying in front of the gas heater with one eye open.
They sent him to live on a farm. I can picture him, bolting
Across paddocks, no law, nothing, would catch him
Skimming the fences, taking off into the sky.
He could run that dog, though he never gave us anything but despair.
He snarled and bit. Every time the screen door opened,
He bolted. Once he got run over, and worse survived.
Something had gone wrong in the making of him, mum said.
Though frightened of gleaming tooth, I loved him.
He was a terrier, brown and silky with long blonde hairs
He could fit on a lap, he worshipped my mother,
He knew the words walk and cat. Shook hands.
Most of the time he was okay, as long as you kept
The door tight shut, and didn’t let him go a visitor.
He was unpredictable. I’ve loved men like him since,
Lying in front of the gas heater with one eye open.
They sent him to live on a farm. I can picture him, bolting
Across paddocks, no law, nothing, would catch him
Skimming the fences, taking off into the sky.
He could run that dog, though he never gave us anything but despair.
More Month of Poetry
The official blog, created and co-ordinated by Kat Apel can be found here. You have to have a password to read the daily poetry, but there's other stuff to look at there.
Anna Ryan Punch, an accomplished poet and fantastic being, is recording her poems at her blog: four hundred years ago, a baby went to sleep.
Amra Pajalic, a really interesting YA author and all round supergal, is recording hers at her blog
Camer0n is recording his at his blog: not unimportant. I particularly enjoyed his How to roast a chicken in a Sestina:
Enlist a poet to extol the extinguished life of your noble chicken.
Remember how it knew how to chicken and none of your guests know how.
Serve its memory best on the day with gravy and steaming hot.
I have decided that Sestinas are a kind of fabulous delirium. You have to be potty to keep repeating yourself like that.
Anna Ryan Punch, an accomplished poet and fantastic being, is recording her poems at her blog: four hundred years ago, a baby went to sleep.
Amra Pajalic, a really interesting YA author and all round supergal, is recording hers at her blog
Camer0n is recording his at his blog: not unimportant. I particularly enjoyed his How to roast a chicken in a Sestina:
Enlist a poet to extol the extinguished life of your noble chicken.
Remember how it knew how to chicken and none of your guests know how.
Serve its memory best on the day with gravy and steaming hot.
I have decided that Sestinas are a kind of fabulous delirium. You have to be potty to keep repeating yourself like that.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Cuspid
Swollen tissue, bulging gum.
Sleepless you arch against
this old enemy, pain,
angry at the savage saw
as what lies hidden rises.
Child, this thing will come
and change you, sharpen you.
In time there will be more
through shining pulp, one by one,
then each lost, and grown again.
It is eternal, a gleaming truth
hidden in the puzzle of the jaw.
This is what the medicine is for
so drink it, the sleeping hours wane.
Sleepless you arch against
this old enemy, pain,
angry at the savage saw
as what lies hidden rises.
Child, this thing will come
and change you, sharpen you.
In time there will be more
through shining pulp, one by one,
then each lost, and grown again.
It is eternal, a gleaming truth
hidden in the puzzle of the jaw.
This is what the medicine is for
so drink it, the sleeping hours wane.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Dollhouse
A house that folds itself inside a house
A house within (and so within within)
The longing of the object for itself
A house within (and so within within)
The longing of the object for itself
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Word Made Flesh
The kiss that passes from your mouth to mine is a word
First learned. Such strange tenderness, in the full
Rose of your blushing mouth. This is a love song, though you
Are not my first. But I have known you since you were complicated:
All shadows and bones made of light, I have seen your sisters
Tug you into the world by the length of your limbs.
I am here you signal with your semaphore limbs
On daily waking, every morning a new bewildering word
Wielded in the drama of laundry and breakfast and sisters
You look out the window at landscapes stretched under a full
And golden sun, a dangerous kisser (it’s complicated),
Renewed everyday from the same ancient light source: you
Who are the centre of everything understands this, you
Who wears yourself out like clockwork, your mechanical limbs
Chugging along the floor towards anything complicated
So you might understand it with your fingers, speak its word
Fathom it with your emerging cerebrum to the full
In the same way you long to comprehend the intricate sisters.
For example you know that like your own hands, sisters
Come in twos, rolling around on the floor, they are like you
But so long, so complete in their power, so risen, so full.
They weave and dance they plait their limbs,
They speak with tangled tongues, and each comes with a word
That is the shape of their faces, their complicated
Selves which began in the shadow- and light-world and complicated
My body, split me into shards of matter, into sisters
And now brother of the tender kiss. You are the word
I couldn’t think of before I went to sleep, I couldn’t think of you
Until I felt the press of your burning skull and your limbs
Aslither from the tightness of me, an emptying of what was full.
I will never be that vessel again, I will never be so full,
I will never be so starving and cram packed, so complicated.
You are the last of them to arrive, the last package of limbs
The last precious gift of skull. No more brothers, no more sisters
For something was born that early afternoon, what was born was you,
What was born was the last, the final word.
I gathered you into my limbs and looked at your face full.
It took one word to make you complicated,
To give you to us and your sisters; I carved flesh to name you.
----
I was awed by Anna Ryan Punch's Sestina when she wrote it ages ago and reminded of it today when I saw her and Kat Apel, organised of Month of Poetry, chatting about it on Twitter, so I decided to give this puzzle like form a go. It took me a while to get my head around it, but I found writing it oddly hypnotic.
First learned. Such strange tenderness, in the full
Rose of your blushing mouth. This is a love song, though you
Are not my first. But I have known you since you were complicated:
All shadows and bones made of light, I have seen your sisters
Tug you into the world by the length of your limbs.
I am here you signal with your semaphore limbs
On daily waking, every morning a new bewildering word
Wielded in the drama of laundry and breakfast and sisters
You look out the window at landscapes stretched under a full
And golden sun, a dangerous kisser (it’s complicated),
Renewed everyday from the same ancient light source: you
Who are the centre of everything understands this, you
Who wears yourself out like clockwork, your mechanical limbs
Chugging along the floor towards anything complicated
So you might understand it with your fingers, speak its word
Fathom it with your emerging cerebrum to the full
In the same way you long to comprehend the intricate sisters.
For example you know that like your own hands, sisters
Come in twos, rolling around on the floor, they are like you
But so long, so complete in their power, so risen, so full.
They weave and dance they plait their limbs,
They speak with tangled tongues, and each comes with a word
That is the shape of their faces, their complicated
Selves which began in the shadow- and light-world and complicated
My body, split me into shards of matter, into sisters
And now brother of the tender kiss. You are the word
I couldn’t think of before I went to sleep, I couldn’t think of you
Until I felt the press of your burning skull and your limbs
Aslither from the tightness of me, an emptying of what was full.
I will never be that vessel again, I will never be so full,
I will never be so starving and cram packed, so complicated.
You are the last of them to arrive, the last package of limbs
The last precious gift of skull. No more brothers, no more sisters
For something was born that early afternoon, what was born was you,
What was born was the last, the final word.
I gathered you into my limbs and looked at your face full.
It took one word to make you complicated,
To give you to us and your sisters; I carved flesh to name you.
----
I was awed by Anna Ryan Punch's Sestina when she wrote it ages ago and reminded of it today when I saw her and Kat Apel, organised of Month of Poetry, chatting about it on Twitter, so I decided to give this puzzle like form a go. It took me a while to get my head around it, but I found writing it oddly hypnotic.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Display Home
This house is not to scale. The Sinatra has a powder room,
while the Columba has a water closet, he says, as if it means something.
I laugh. I am wearing my boots and a two hundred dollar dress
because we are pretending to be grown ups, but grown ups don’t laugh
and my handbag cost fifty cents and we don’t want a room
for our play-station. The man looks at us as if we come from
very far away, though it’s only twenty-five minutes up the road
and we do that every time we need to buy milk and bread and shoeshine.
Size is everything and the rule is you have to have three types of cladding.
Before we went in, we felt we were doing something dirty
like going to Club X, or contemplating swinging, or mixing our rubbish
with our recycling. At home our chickens have been cooped up
and one of them is getting pecked by the others, we call them the bitches.
We’ve built a new separate coop for Rosie who gets pecked and we made it
out of a wooden box and a stained glass window and she stays in there
all the time. She might die still, but at least she’ll spend her last days
in peace. I think about Rosie and the chickens and wonder what would happen
to them if we lived here. What would happen to us all? The backyard
is a sliver of green, with plants that were frightened into existence.
They manufacture the air you breathe because there’s not enough here
to sustain us, but that’s an extra, it will cost you.
Monday, January 09, 2012
Some nights
Some nights fall:
The chickens are fed,
The kids are in bed,
The dishes are done,
But the words don’t come.
Nothing at all.
The shadowy hall
The clock on the wall.
Nights fall. And some
Are like this one
The words don’t come.
The chickens are fed,
The kids are in bed,
The dishes are done,
But the words don’t come.
Nothing at all.
The shadowy hall
The clock on the wall.
Nights fall. And some
Are like this one
The words don’t come.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Kinglake Sonnet
In the fire scarred, mist softened hills we stop
for hot milk and meat pies, shelter from rain.
A man considers the rolls that remain,
reflective bands on the sleeves of his top.
His uniform draws the attention
of my two girls. “Fireman? Police?” they ask.
“Paramedic,” I say, as he walks past.
The girls regard him with apprehension.
He cradles a large sized bottle of coke.
“Somebody crashed in the rain,” says Fred.
Una says, “Somebody’s dying, or dead.”
But girls, he’s mostly a normal bloke
getting lunch and a drink like us, just the same,
and the rain is the rain. Just the rain. Just the rain.
for hot milk and meat pies, shelter from rain.
A man considers the rolls that remain,
reflective bands on the sleeves of his top.
His uniform draws the attention
of my two girls. “Fireman? Police?” they ask.
“Paramedic,” I say, as he walks past.
The girls regard him with apprehension.
He cradles a large sized bottle of coke.
“Somebody crashed in the rain,” says Fred.
Una says, “Somebody’s dying, or dead.”
But girls, he’s mostly a normal bloke
getting lunch and a drink like us, just the same,
and the rain is the rain. Just the rain. Just the rain.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Breastfeeding
You wake crying
in the early afternoon,
In a sunlit room
I lie down to feed you.
Your eyes gaze into mine,Light enters and exits you,
And we are twice joined.
Friday, January 06, 2012
Wimmera by Sidney Nolan
I said to my love who is livinga figure
Dear we shall never be that verb
Perched on the sole Arabian tree
Ern Malley
the lost dark
reels from the open country
of himself
I was in Dimboola once
the landscape was not gone
though you took it with you
pressed between the pages of a book
the artist eliminates all traces
of looking
takes only himself
and not the frightened dust
Thursday, January 05, 2012
At One
Hello? You okay?
You gone go inna car?
You gone go?
You okay?
yuh/yuh/yuh/
More? G'day. Hi. Yay.
Hey. Heeey.
Mumma. Dadda.
You okay? Okay?
Gone go?
Bye bye boowa.
You gone go inna car?
You gone go?
You okay?
yuh/yuh/yuh/
More? G'day. Hi. Yay.
Hey. Heeey.
Mumma. Dadda.
You okay? Okay?
Gone go?
Bye bye boowa.
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Dreaming Sisters
each night
they sisters lie
side by side
on narrow beds
squabble fret
squirm protest
finally one
then the other
submits
two girls
breathing out
ink black clouds
pin-prick stars
private constellations
they wake at light
relieved
and irritated
to see each other
again
they sisters lie
side by side
on narrow beds
squabble fret
squirm protest
finally one
then the other
submits
two girls
breathing out
ink black clouds
pin-prick stars
private constellations
they wake at light
relieved
and irritated
to see each other
again
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
The manifestation of unnamed longing
Baby in the high chair
More? More? More?
We give him more
It ends up on the floor.
Monday, January 02, 2012
41ºC
As if he can’t believe the heat either
a crow, glossy as an oil slick
staggers under the supermarket awning
with his beak hanging open.
I shop for things we might require:
Arnotts Assorted Creams, 40 fish fingers,
5 litres of milk, yoghurt by the bucket.
In the carpark my husband runs the air-conditioning
the baby lolls sideways in his seat
and the girls play animal vegetable or mineral.
Una is a letterbox
Fred is a potato cake
Una is a pancake in the shape of a dead guy.
At the cash register I run back for dishwashing liquid.
A woman says sternly into the telephone
hooked up to the loudspeaker:
there is a Nissan Patrol with a dog inside
and no windows open if you are in the store
please attend to your animal.
I walk out into the sweltering carpark of the late afternoon.
This human world is melting into the hills.
We drive into the glare.
I join the game. They ask me: Are you an animal?
No. Are you a vegetable? Yes.
What sort of vegetable? they shriek
Mum? What sort of a vegetable are you?
Una asks are you crumby?
Laughing I look back at their laughing faces.
We drive past cows in their fields.
I am an apple pie.
The long day grows hotter.
Something is terribly wrong.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
The Two Brothers
such wounded funny men such boys
such self-effacing broadfaced fathers
of dark-eyed sons such husbands such friends
with hands that dote that circled their aunts
that brush past at the sink with incidental touch
that hold each other aloft such men
such wounded funny Catholic boys
such tea-drinking on and off the wagon men
such country boys such eager grazers
of the night sky with one collective eye
such moon walkers hand talkers heart warmers
such tall talers such dream sailors
such brothers such boys such men
---
Month of poetry is on again and I am participating. I treasure the poems I wrote last year, capturing daily life with a six to ten week old baby as well as the older girls. The above was inspired by our company for New Year's Eve. We spend a lovely night in a rambling house in Drysdale in the company of very dear friends and some of their extended family. These brothers are two of five boys, and two of the genuinely kindest and most interesting people I have ever met - I am fascinated by their whole family. The kids had a ball, romping around in the gardens in a massive tribe with two dogs, even Avery had the company of four other babies. It was a wonderful night and a magical start to the New Year. The men got the big telescope out and we all lined up to look at the craters on the yellow edge of the moon and dream ourselves up into the timeless sky.
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