I milked a season
in the high range near Timboon
for a Bavarian named Rudi,
who built a Black Forest house
out of place against eucalypts
like those old special effects ,
a wobbly head stuck on the wrong body
land so fat the kelpies
pretended to bring the cows in,
spent their time fossicking
in earth as black as truffle
then red in deep Shiraz.
His daughter would say
‘Look the Sky pours into the Sea’
and that she didn’t love me,
was going back to Germany
so tanned she’d vanish in a paddock
I had to look close to catch,
an auburn dancing shimmer
she drifted in light then flew by
left me a demijohn stranded,
a becalmed catamaran
but sometimes she wrapped me in sienna
just for a while ‘You’re my Man’.
I’ve had some people say the audio link on The Blue Nib isn’t always available. I’ve posted both here just in case you can’t get it on the main site when connecting.
The poem was originally published in Poetry d’Amour Love Poems selected by Kevin Gillam 2017, ‘Unstill Mosaics’ 2019, and ‘Abandoned Soliloquies’ UnCollected Press 2019.
Art by Christian Schloe ‘Journey’ courtesy of Christian Schloe Digital Artwork.
James Walton Poetry 
Lovely poem, Jim! Some gorgeous colour: “black as truffle”, “red in deep Shiraz”, “auburn in dancing summer” and “wrapped me in sienna”. One of your very best, I feel.
Something about this poem compels me to quote Joyce from his short story, “Araby”: “O love! O love!”
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Thanks Kevin. if I can get mixed in with Joyce I’m happy!
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