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ARTS AND CULTURE

Don't jumble your words: Elegy for Peter Gebhardt

  • 11 September 2017

 

Selected poems

 

Elegy for Peter Gebhardt

There's refuge in ritual,

For us, lamb's fry and bacon,

cracked vinyl chairs, tough butter,

Osso Bucco and the sun-struck Depot,

slender books brimming

with the intuition of the instant.

 

Don't jumble your words,

I want to hear your voice.

 

Belief brings solitary repose,

no more mimicking gallant pens,

poaching pips from wiser minds.

Know the moment, listen and find

the ephemeral and the luminous

born and nurtured in reciprocity.

 

The gum tree has shallow roots,

blithe cream branches

that wave in the wind,

dropping leaves on the lawn.

— Dougal Hurley

 

 

State Theatre

There are those places that hang grimly —

Often very grimly —

On to their past,

But if they do, and when they do,

We are invited by memory

To enjoy the nostalgia

Of simple things, like the usherettes

Or the round orange jaffas rolled down the steps

Or the fabrication of celing stars

And, specially, the Wurlitzer music.

Best of all were the curtains

For when their heavy hanging parted

Lights would go out

For cinematic passion and thrills,

And all the fun of cuddling for some

In a theatre seat,

I watched and wished.

— Peter Gebhardt

 

 

Winemanship

A good starting point for Coonawarra cabernet. Sharp, tangy briar and blackcurrant cordial aromas lead into a palate that nicely balances succulent fruit and slightly astringent backbone.

(Screw cap; 14 per cent alcohol.) Ageing? Drink over four years.

Parker Estate's merlot offers savoury varietal personality. Violet, blackcurrant and tapenade aromas introduce a medium-bodied, sustained, dry-?nishing palate, a dab of coconutty oak adding dimension.

(Screw cap; 14.5 per cent alcohol.) Ageing? Drink over four years.

Smelling of red cherries and raspberry jam, along with sappy and earthy touches, this reasonably priced pinot has good varietal identity. It has a juicy, gluggable middle and a slightly ?rm ?nish.

(Screw cap; 13 per cent alcohol.) Ageing? Drink over two years.

Top-notch riesling running a tight line through stone fruit, citrus and ?oral characters, and savoury, spicy notes. Dry, intense and rich, structured, long and ageworthy.

(Screw cap; 12 per cent alcohol.) Ageing? Yes, three to 15 years.

Courtesy 'The Age' (20.6.17)

 

Across the brown paddock the vines stand,

Small crucifixions stripped and naked.

The grapes have all been gathered

And now they must make the palate

And bouquet of a new language,

Giving a juicy birth to the dictionary of wine-babble,

Words that are aromatic and astringent,

That will make the vocal chords 'gluggable'

In the middle and then at the finish

A dab of 'coconutty' oak with solid dimension

So we may all be well structured and 'Ageworthy'

(the editor would like that).

 

It's quite a burden the vines have to bear

And the grapes plump-ripe with lexical delights.

— Peter Gebhardt

 

 

 

Dougal Hurley is a postgraduate