Selected poems
Four reflections in plate glass off King Street:
with the ease of discreet limousines
touring Japanese bow
to extravagance
black widow spider
conveys coffee in gothic fashion
on hob nailed
boots
beautiful animals
from the modelling agency
young, sleek and elegant
big hair like grass trees
carried
on
long stalked
necks
then: scraping in the lee of candelabra'd apartments
mr nameless and his bent bayonet
a greatcoat from military disposals
hung over
a sharpened stick
Moonlight conventions
I put in my journal — a full moon tonight, crisp
and splendidly clear for our walk around the shore
and back to the resort ...
What did the Israeli professor remark?
It bodes well on Hoshana Rabbah that
we are casting shadows in moonlight.
Though our Chinese friend had little to say
following this evening's lecture, he was right about
the yellow plum at the bottom of the lake.
Easter scene, Wembley
Four seconds of world
in early evening streets
of almost winter cold
when lamplights handed
down their glowing cups
to cars streaming by
and as I gripped the wheel
I saw a man kneeling
before a whippet, two heads
haloed in doorstep light.
It was by footpath signs
for PIZZA and COKE
some grace above or between
kneeling man/ sitting dog
sanctified the moment.
Aftertaste of sun
your eyes wide water-side wanderers
see in each day's walk
a blessing of unspoken proverbs
as waterfowl cross the flinty trail
you back towards reeds
a wafer of fear along shoreline
then panic breaks open the lake
an aquatic explosion
derangement of ducks, moorhen, coots
blinds you with feathers of sun
Ross Jackson is a retired schoolteacher from Perth. He has had poetry and short stories published locally and interstate.