I live in the old lay over ward
the infants’ windy smiles
fall out of the lining of night
a row of piano keys resting
whilst at the end of Campbell Street
the fishers
pudgy fingers hands of bananas
are dragging lines for ocean trout
saltier from the desal plant
in water needed to flush rivers
back to the sea
ankle deep a wading foreshore
my forehead is breezing
then a coal train
stalled in a tunnel
gaunt by steam whistle moves
birds beneath the netting
the quince unripe
dawn hooking silhouettes
chess with macadamias
leavened decades in covenant
away from the ticketed price
squirming and fearless
layettes to dress
a value of things
louder than the dormant blinding
First Published in Bluepepper July 2018 Editor Justin Lowe
Abandoned Soliloquies UnCollected Press, Ellicott City, MD USA 2019
James Walton Poetry 