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Tag Archives: Poetry
Fear
I feel it behind me
stalking and faceless
skulking and malevolent
The hairs on the back of my neck
stand on end
like highly sensitised
oh so brittle antennae
I walk more briskly
I am tempted to run
but not tempted to tempt fate
Each step announces
a deepening sense of dread
a heightened anxiety
a rising feeling of panic
Evil is about tonight
amongst the chill night air
and the cold dull haloes
of the too distant streetlights
There it is again
The faintest of scrapings
rapid and sequential
advancing along the pavement behind me
Demonic footsteps of malicious intent
portents of pain and suffering
They strain my hearing to the point
of questioning whether I hear anything at all
but I know they are there
coming
closing
My eyes dart urgently
from side to side
A tic
twitches my cheek
I am shaken to my core
I startle at a moth that brushes my cheek
My head flicks left
My head flicks right
My fully dilated pupils
black as any pit in hell
scream at me for more light
and scour the edges of darkness
for a bolt hole
Sanctuary
any hope to cling too
Peripheral vision
reams in the sidelines
desperately seeking refuge
struggling to see ahead and aside at the same time
Sweat begins
to bead my brow
Cold sweat
Shivers
wrack my body
I begin to whimper
I don’t want to hurt
to plead for my life, my soul
for mercy
I don’t want to die alone
I don’t want to die here
and now
A movement
in the corner of my eye
I stumble in fright
miss the kerb
roll my ankle
The pain shoots up into my calf
and something tears
I gasp
My flight becomes hobbled
I limp on in fear
dragging my injured foot
scraping the rubber of the sole
on the hard surface
of coarse concrete
Then
comes the first touch
An icy point
A razor-sharp prickle
pierces my jacket
In one swift motion
needlelike it penetrates the fabric
just breaking the surface of my skin
From my lower back
a cold finger of ice
tracks a paralyzing pathway
up toward my right shoulder
Muscles cramp
then seize
into an excruciating knotted strip
of rock solid pain
Futile teardrops begin to fall
I sob in absolute horror
and misery
“Oh God, help me, somebody help me!”
I wheel
there is nothing there
The second touch
burns
as a keenly sharp edge
slices a clean shallow line
fully across my left cheek
This one is hot
like dry ice
The blood flows
as thick warm syrup
It makes its way down my pallid face
mixing with the tears and snot of fear
dripping onto my stained clothes
gluey on my hands
I didn’t even sense the blade coming
let alone what wielded it
Dread wells up inside me
threatens to overwhelm me
I pursue escape
from terrifying pursuit
The road is empty
straight
as far as the opaque darkness
allows my eyes to see
Where pavement ends
terraformed tracts of bare earth begin
A homeless housing estate
At the periphery of illumination
feebly provided by each dreary streetlight
is murk
thick with ominous foreboding
It envelops the world
on this souless, moonless night
Hope fades
The third touch
is a heavy thump
in the small of my back
It cripples me
I stagger
It is all I can do not to collapse
I must stop to breathe
to fall on my haunches
straining to fill my airless lungs
I double over
when I need to stand
I pause
when I need to run
I falter
when I need courage
I give into weakness
when I need to find strength
I heave
when I need to draw breath
The fourth touch
comes as a surprise
Desperately preoccupied with surroundings and survival,
my head and neck are parted,
as I miss the prophecy of imminent death
but fleetingly register
oh timely release
oh sweet oblivion
Savoured Moments #1
I wake at 4 in the morning
In the small hours
When small things matter
and ideas can repeat in your brain
taking on more significance than they deserve
eroding your ability to unwind
Like a tap dripping in the next room
But not this morning
This morning it is soft rain I hear
gently tinkling on the metal
of the carport roof outside
It is warm under the covers
I feel secure
as your soft regular breathing resumes
after you roll onto your side next to me
Was it an interrupted dream?
I like not knowing everything that goes on in your head
After all these years you can still surprise me
I snuggle up to your back
and rest my forehead between your shoulder blades
As I contemplate what it is to be us
your heels settle into the angle of my ankles
your calves align with my shins
your thighs mold to mine
and your backside schmoozes deliciously into my groin
I raise my head to create more space
so I can wrap my arms around you
pulling your upper body into mine
As my arms embrace your warmth
I soak up your textures
I draw in your smell
With my eyes closed
I sense every point at which we touch
I feel our body rhythms synchronise
as my muscles relax
and my mind smiles
with the intimate pleasure
of as much body contact as we can muster
I savour the moment
as peaceful sleep reclaims me
The Bees
I walk under the flowering trees
I hear a mighty incessant drone
The canopy is filled with bees
The bees that pollinate our homes
A gift from flower to flower they spread
The food chain thrives and grows
They keep all animals and people fed
With pollen transfer and honey flows
At our peril we ignore their plight
Bees are dying around the world
As they depopulate out of sight
Desiccated bodies shrivel and curl
We blithely march into the future
Pesticide monoculture deforestation
While bees cooperate store and nurture
We blithely march toward desolation
Save the bees should read the banner
The banner we have left unfurled
Plant more trees in every manor
Preserve this insect and save the world
33 kinds of rain
The misting rain as light as being
The pitter patter rain of anticipation
The sun shower rain of joyfulness
The dawn lit rain of new awakenings
The driving rain of persistent harassment
The piercing rain of pain and hurt
The bleak rain of uncertainty
The saturating rain of grief
The pounding rain of anger
The cold rain of fear and loathing
The persistent rain of melancholy
The drought breaking rain of celebration
The tropical rain of surprise and relief
The tin roof rain of night time snuggles
The slanting rain of getting under your skin
The fat wet rain of things to come
The dull rain of misery
The easing rain of hope for a day
The sheeting rain of washing your sins away
The aerosol rain that never settles
The eddying rain of indefinite endings
The ominous rain of growing darkness
The thunder laden rain of shock and awe
The storm driven rain of nature’s authority
The drenching rain of no escape
The floating rain of disproportionate outcomes
The harrowing rain of oppression and spite
The lightning flash rain of vision burned
The unexpected rain of scrambling for shelter
The flooding rain of tears
The icy rain of an unknown future
The sleety rain of chilled to the bone
The sunlit rain of clarity of purpose
The dancing rain of swirling possibilities
The evening rain of contemplation
The elemental rain of fundamental outcomes
The cloaking rain of secrecy
The wispy rain of dissipation
The hard rain of death
The transparent rain of release
The soft rain of peace
A poem of parental love
Head for home my darlings
Run the very last mile
Take your mother in your arms
Revel in her smile
See the family home awaiting
Doors always open for you
Embrace the love inside
The love that greets you two
To see you home again my loves
To look into your eyes
To touch your cheeks, your hair
Makes parents come alive
We hear the stories of life being lived
Interested and entranced
We see you grow and give
Toward life’s merry dance
Through all trials and tribulations
You know we’re always here
We hold you in our hearts
We hold you ever dear
Accepting your achievements
Your foibles and your flaws
Our pleasure’s in the hoping
That there’s always to be more
Lay down your heads our children
On the pillows of your youth
For sharing and for solace
This home is yours in truth
The violent sky
Storm light hues
A days greying light
As aggressive wind
Precedes nature’s might
The horizon darkens
Dry matter flies
Cumulonimbus
Pile up high
Scattered fat drops
Precede storms eye
Shredded black cloud
Goes racing by
Driven rain follows
Meets a dry earth sigh
As flooding water
Dust defies
Lightning brilliance
Thunder nigh
Magnificent concussion
Vault occupies
Above us all
The Titans vie
For heavenly dominance
In the violent sky
The bed
“It’s not really a bad sort of a bed”
Yes, I think that’s verbatim, what she said
As the sheets of the bed turned brightly red
As the blood pooled, ran, dripped onto the floor
As it stickily coagulated, could run no more
She, holding the knife, felt she’d settled her score
The body lay prone with wounds in the back
I couldn’t believe our assailant’s strong hack
Or the size of the knife she wielded with such knack
Her slightly built body, her small fine fingered hand
The ring on one finger, the jewelled wedding band
The wet sleeve to the elbow, all bloodied and damned
Her action reaction, tragically violent in hew
In her mind no alternative, nothing else to do
With everything gone and nothing to lose
When I walked in the room she was standing there
A satisfied smile, a flushed face, a hand in his hair
I approached quietly for the knife from this desolate pair
That’s when she said, “It’s not a bad sort of bed”
One that they’d shared, planned their lives up ahead
But it seems he’d had others in the bed instead
And the only life she saw had him on the bed dead
Love’s gauntlet
Here once on this path love’s torment
Found me quietly pleading in fear
Then twice by this way love’s sonnet
Helped me to see my way clear
As I thrice put my case love’s comet
Struck me, rendered me seer
Four times in the midst of love’s torrent
My heart stricken by love beyond peer
A fifth run to the end of love’s gauntlet
Win or lose shapes my life on from here
the fortunate father: a poem for my son
From the father to the son
Two men bound as one
From your time as a boy
You have brought your father
Joy
From the father to the man
I will love you to the end
Not just for being my son
But also for being my friend
I love your powerful words
Your great sense of romance
Your reflection and your humour,
Love of life’s elaborate dance
But most of all I love
Self centred it may be
Your willingness to share
All these things with me
There’s a new man in town


This is not a plateau
Skeleton School by Madelaine Last
This new normal is not a plateau
This new normal is not the new normal bro
The simple fact is temperatures continue to rise
The simple fact is there are no alibis
Even when an individual climate change denies
Even when the fatalists are saying their good byes
Even though so many choose to walk on by
We can do our best and the naysayer defy
Because there are indicators that clearly show
There may still be time to protect our home
Despite the hothouse building in our greenhouse dome
2016 was the world’s hottest year
because El Niño added to the sear
Many politicians made this their bluff
On behalf of lobbyists saying it’s one off
Then 2017 was almost just as hot
The third warmest year and El Niño not
How is the first half of 2018 I hear you ask?
How much reflected heat was there in which we basked?
It was the fourth warmest on the global tab
Again, no El Niño to be factored in the lab
Accelerating temperatures throughout the Industrial Age
Say greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change
Measures have been gauged stats have been paged
So many ordinary people are supremely enraged
Four straight years of temperature highs
Unseasonal fires, landslides, quickening dries
Ice caps melting at an ever-increasing pace
Ocean currents stalling changing weather’s ancient face
Sea temp differentials flatten there are water level highs
Since 1993 7.7 centimetres of seawater rise
And we’re still not ready damn our eyes
There is not one government that does enough
Where conservatives dominate, we are really stuffed
When we need collective accomplishment on the world stage
All they manage is the underachievement needed to end our age
When 17 of our hottest years since records were begun
Have been experienced by the planet since 2001
Fish are relocating due to warming waters
Resource wars are driving people across borders
Animals are struggling where small changes matter
Wildfire behaviour sees normal patterns scatter
Hard dry ground where crops should have been
Leave starving masses suffering sight unseen
In Sweden and El Salvador wheat and corn harvests dip
Four continents of heatwaves rock the state of the ship
Intense and longer storms, Flo’s protracted flooding rains
Deeper waters and drier droughts put more people in their graves
Nuclear plant shutdowns because river cooling water is too warm
Does any government or corporate body set off an alarm?
No, because they say we’re in the same safe boat
Despite some countries suffering in ways others do not
In Delhi people lie on the ground when record heat stops work after noon
Where there’s no techno cooling to ease every hotter summer’s swoon
Elsewhere electricity supply crashes due to air con demand
Dozens of heat related deaths occurred last summer in Japan
Basic system failures threaten water supply and food
Yet, all some do is argue, wring hands and do no good
2017 saw a carbon dioxide max for 800,000 years
But from Paris the US withdraws citing fake news fears
And the rich haven’t paid to help poor countries cope
As they promised in the accord to give some glimmer of hope
Global warming now moves faster than any models say
Are there global changes can be made to keep the worst at bay?
Like science harnessing knowledge to produce drought resistant crops
Or international government that can call on climate cops
Enforcing global policy solutions, a climate government pronounces
Or predicting global heat and rainfall for informed responses
We’re not talking about the risk to our grandchildren anymore
It’s the risk to today’s planet knocking at our door
Unless we lift ourselves from our decision-making funk
We’ll reduce the value of our world to the corporate status “junk”
Meanwhile, some people and Governments are acting somewhere out there
Funding research and renewables, reducing waste, doing their share
Protesters are demonstrating and actioning their care
Planting, recycling, whiting roofs, championing what is fair
But they can’t take on the weight of the world it’s just too much to bear
Will you help them, will you and you take on the dare?
Breakfast
Gallery
What do you eat for breakfast? Continue reading
Walking in the evening
Gallery
I’m walking in the evening
Smelling all the sounds Continue reading
Marmo Lane
Gallery
Winter rain
With Winter’s reign
Comes winter rain …..
Heavy, Kamikaze, straight into the ground
A relentless, driving, ominous sound
Drumming incessantly on iron clad roof
Beating out rhythms of Winter’s truth
Pummeling every deciduous bough
Weighing branches to a seasonal low
Forcing autumn leaves to their final leap
Reminding trees it is time to sleep
Sean
Tarrawingee – Hagan’s poem
I came across this poem my son, Hagan, wrote some time ago. It is about overnight stays at his grandparent’s place in rural Victoria. It is quite lovely.
at night cars on the highway whisper distance
we are so far from anything
a collection of warm souls
glowing like an ember of the burnt out day
the cars breathe wordless thoughts
the sound of loneliness
is the sound of something passing
but we stay
grandma and grandpa asleep in the one room I have never explored
young famililes in the back room
single males or older siblings alongside
in a lounge room sealed with folding doors
every move a quiet one
from quiet good night to good morning
breakfast a thief’s meal
the day’s plans discussed in conspirator’s tones
the house so still
the closing of cupboards in the kitchen a rough sigh
the carpet in the hall soft and relaxed
becoming cool kitchen lino underfoot
and here’s Ruth, any Ruth
whispering hello with a laugh
as if she’s either not used to whispering
or she’s sorry for waking me
while Nutri-Grain sing their deliciousness into the bowl
the first in a day of pleasures rare and reliable
reminders of things I have always known
that I will belong somewhere, that I am happy
happy now, in a house warm and never stifling
allowing the comfortable movement
of elements between its walls:
air and light, peace and love, enough for all
Ashes
“We brought her ashes here.”
Someone could have said this
That someone could not have been me
Because I wasn’t there
Not in mind, not in spirit, not in body
I was absent on every level
In fact, I think I went to school
Did I really go to school?
For want of something better to do
That must have been weird for the teachers
Their dead colleague’s son returns to school
Instead of attending their dead colleague’s funeral
I wonder if it hurt? (Me? Them?)
I didn’t wonder at the time
I just didn’t want to go
Didn’t want to know
I saw the dead when death was done
No need to attend a funeral rerun
Clear and simple
That was the way I saw it
“We brought her ashes here because …..”
I can tell you I have no idea why
I wasn’t there I tell you
I wasn’t involved
Not in the slightest
Not for the sightfest
I guess it was because standards were everything
I guess it was convenience if anything
“We took her ashes elsewhere”
I mean
It would have made more sense don’t you think?
Well, with hindsight anyway
I wonder now where that elsewhere might have been?
I imagine there was a place somewhere distant to the mass ash repository
Somewhere that had more meaning?
To her
To Dad
To us
To me?
I wonder where that place might have been?
It bothers me that I have no idea about this
Instead of being encapsulated
Did she think about where her ashes might be cast?
She had time
So much time for dying
Was there time for thinking about this as well?
Thinking about the special places
The places that meant something
The places where her ashen cloud
Could manifest as transient shroud
One last act of giving
One finale to living
“Here lie her ashes”
I still don’t know where
I still don’t want to know
I haven’t been there
Don’t want to be shown
Wherever there is
And I won’t go
Because there is a neutral and meaningless place
At least, I don’t know what it means
Elsewhere might have been easier
Somewhere I could understand
Where she could still lend a hand
A place for her to show
Somewhere I might want to go
My Dad’s Legacy – Mary’s haiku
My Dad’s Legacy – Mary’s haiku
My Dad’s legacy
Love of words, delight in birds
Precious gift to me
for eternity
Image
A poem for thine eyes to see
Words that speak of love for thee
A verse from where my head doth rest
Upon thy softly rising chest
A breath
A gentle tender plea
To bind our hearts eternally
To state our love is rich and rare
An intimacy that none can share
I’ll stay with you through eternal life
My friend my lover my eternal wife
Jocose
I am jocose
In the most playful sense
Humorously jocular
Amusingly dense
My jovial disposition
Laughter vents
winter nights, spoken delights
Gallery
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Last night, in good company, I went to a first evening of poetry readings at the North East Artisans Community Art Space in Benalla. It just so happens that this closely coincided with our very own first Strathbogie Spoken Word … Continue reading
The Death of Miss Richards
Did you read A S Patric’s Black Rock White City? “The Death of Miss Richards” stands alone as a poem, but read the book to meet the character properly. Highly recommended.
Why did miss richards die
Jump in front of the train
Without learning to fly
She broke her wrists and her ankles
Before the Hallam train hit
For the briefest of moments
She hurt a bit
Although and however
She may have been hurting
Previously forever
Why didn’t miss richards cry
Let out her feelings
Sob, weep and sigh
Miss Richards always looked so content
Nose in a book
Mind being sent
Not a woman in pain
Not a lass to complain
Of a heart broken or rent
And she ate vegetarian food
For the soul
It looked good
It makes you wonder how should
What actually could
Make miss richards want to die
Miss Richards looked serene
Like one in a dream
Thoughtful and peaceful
Quiet as a mouse
I note she loved music
And the capacity to choose it
Her playlists sashay lists
Of walls without bridges
As we on the ridges
Played miss richards I spy
I never said hi miss richards
Nor hello now goodbye
So she sat by herself until lunchtime went by
Miss richards headphones and book
Ne’er one to sook
Ne’er a wet eye
As she kept to herself
Alone on her shelf
Self sufficient as one cloud in a blue blue sky
Oh why oh why
Did miss richards have to die
Hedge End Lane
we took a walk down Hedgend Lane
squeezed it in ‘tween showers of rain
a short walk from the bogie road
walking to an end unknown
with us walking we took the whippet
keen as mustard leashed and at it
we set off into an icy grind
tempting fate against winter’s mind
the road was dirt puddles like scales
the wind was cold sharp as nails
the sky was grey and overcast
prophesising an arctic blast
we met two cockies one unwell
the other uted name of Neville
we chewed the fat for a moment or two
then nev went off to feed his ewes
he knew our house and seller’s name
said she fell victim to a scam
he asked about the other cock
down the road about a block
we said we saw its damaged wing
we couldn’t get close to do a thing
nev had been asked by his lovely wife
to mercy kill it take its life
as we waved farewell to nev and ute
we thought the man was quite astute
a life at bogie on a farm
a laconic style of rural charm
the next instalment was a procession of lambs
from biggest to smallest dashing for dams
such cute and playful snow white children
it’s quite a flock old nev’s a building
then we came to the farm homestead
work dogs wagging tethered to sheds
at the front gate there’s a dead bloated sheep
the one nev warned us about to go deep
onward we walked into more open space
where grazing occurs at a slow country pace
a hereford watched our brisk passage past
as it chewed on cud made of wet winter grass
at the end of the road there’s a pleasant surprise
a tableland drop off topped by glowering skies
the gap between hills is not very wide
but big enough to see down the hillside
it’s a break in the mountain to a view of great grace
we can see to the plains and expansive green space
to the base of the tableland looking down is a thrill
from our throne like position at the top of the hills
Summer meditation
At first it is the light you become aware of
The golden hue of a summer evening sun
The surreal enhancement of every vista
An enriching highlight to the end of the day
Take a deep breath
Sigh it out through an open mouth
Cleanse
Then the sounds reach into you
A rippling cascade of water
A wind gently rustling leaves
A magpie carolling
Find your position of comfort
Melt your body into the earth
Unwind
Your skin responds to the air around you
Its featherlight touch, gossamer weight
Soothing, reassuring, fresh and clean
Smooth your brow
Part your lips
Drop your shoulders
Let your hands and feet fall where they will
Relax
Close your eyes
Meditate
The world around you fades
You pacify it, clear your mind
Letting everything that was today go
Focus your mind’s eye between your eyebrows
Know your breathing
Breathe in
Breathe out
Breathe in
Breathe out
Float
Be
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