They are laid out for this Sundaystations between lockdown datesand if an ear is pressed to them words singing out of lethargyrise out of loose leaf castings from waiting rooms across the citya fall of sound as another bearersignals to lounges kitchens hallways that awakening hope of releasein the chugging unopened language where skimmed pages … Continue reading Tsundoku (the condition of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them)

From Uncharted Constellations Space Cat Press 2020

I am fifteen years awayfrom the age my father reachedstanding in the shadeof a forty year old apple tree, in an early autumn daywith still no sign of rainand ground that has crackedlike sore lips after oranges, for decades I’ve resistedthose crossed arms in an ageing poutbut it’s only fair to tell youthat I’ve messed … Continue reading Now I’m Sixty Two

a lizard so small on the broken vasedrinks and looks back motion lessthe unflappable virtue of a nodding irisall Van Gogh wheezy at the anglethe horse paddock bounteous with feedan abandoned rusty bike maintaining a postcherry blossom graffiti over the porchhow the noise of children swimming amplifiesthe clamorous life of aira neighbour’s dog being spottedwalks … Continue reading These things of hope

Like a windup toy it sidles the porchin an awkward jete,so black it’s purple as wet shiny aggregate.The voice older than memorya surviving ayr a timepiece of yo yosometimes stretched out walking the dog,or a sharpie up and downback into an unread palm.A mini Godzilla head side jerkthe beady summation of reflected pride,before the kamikaze … Continue reading The Raven’s Malaise

They told us cold milk was the blood of angelsit was during the Tokyo Olympics.Our knees froze together in the morningthis was good discipline for us,God knows there were people suffering.And last night I cuffed the moontried to pull it down into the lounge,a lever with a button dial an old typewriter key;the one pin … Continue reading Daylight Saving, Eastern Standard Time

There is no balm for the yearning of eucalypts,candlebarks stretch up this vaulted wantingdahlias splash an insane chant over a paddocka calf nods and backs into a startled wander,one day she might raspily lick the mystery of my supplicant salty palm. Kunzeas shake in the darting thoughts of ransacking honeyeaters;galaxies of shining filaments catch their … Continue reading Waiting

I might go down to Clevelandwhere my people worked the minesas the ocean rose through shaleand their lives were cast asideheard the house may be still be standingwith the brush growing holdbut the planes aren’t taking airand ships are locked to wharvesall the things we used to trafficin the blustery broken daysgone wild now from … Continue reading When the fever breaks, Covid song

You were more Romany than Dutchin most of those  inclinations gypsynot polite unqizzical Amsterdama head of flumed unwilted magentaa jack in the box of surprisesthat could not be upbraided I still cook for the both of usalthough there’s a chef travellingwith the circus in Spainlast I heard north of Barcelonain the best of sumac and … Continue reading Armada Psalm to the Spanish Main

They are late this morninga cacophony from the south easttwo relayed arcsboisterous in their shiningin axis out of a woad skyshouting of pillagewhere the pines topple into oceannow an altitude of scythesmaking delay a pastbeat cumulous shieldsconverge for instructionmaul out the linkflailing from a lemon sulphur pavlovato peel away in renewed certainty John Downton 'noisy … Continue reading In the whimsy of cockatoos, merging flocks