Selected poems
Counting stars
winter is cold centre-stage
beneath the streetlight
waiting
for the parade
payday tradies swilling VB
suited-execs behind tinted windows
waving fists of fifties and empty promises
soon the neighbour comes too
jingling coins, wanting favours
whispering fantasies
the first timer blushing
her bondage on display
with the sisters
round and round
cruise kerb-crawlers
wind tugging hotpants
tangling her sunflower print scarf
and her forearm itches
brick wall rough against her back
she counts stars
a rosary
alpha, beta, epsilon
earning the master's cut
enough for her next hit of smack
shakin' the can
the stuttering snap
of streetlights
summons the cru'
masked graffas
cap-peaks switched to the back
packing plundered aerosols
to hit the slam and underside
bomb the gallery end to end
dots and lines, wild-style
mash-ups in hollows
tagging territory
dubbing glyphs
shakin' the can
painting heaven
The gardener
soon the gardener comes
stirring gumleaf shadows
rake and hoe in hand
to tend his seedlings
beneath the sickle moon
he hums soothing songs
knowing hands squeeze
swelling buds and petals
in starlit shadows
the gardener plucks
a bouquet
each flower
a trophy
photographed
circulated
stored on disks
in albums
but what of the blossoms'
withering beauty
pot-bound in the hot-house
of adult silence
Marilyn Humbert lives in the Northern suburbs of Sydney NSW Australia. Her tanka and haiku appear in international and Australian journals, anthologies and online. Her free verse poems have been awarded prizes in competitions and some have been published.