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Paul is reading Porter anddoesn't knowso many words:'aleatory', 'gallimaufry'. Hehasn't read Hesiod:'verdigris' is from theFrench, grey-green, a shadow on thehumidor, so I'mguessing Hoplite's helmet wasmade of bronze —I remember the shine ofnew copper onCorpus Christi, quickly dulled, thebody of christ isa Cathedral now, shares withthe duomo and other public pates thechemistry of oxidation,a colour that, dichromatic,I know by name but cannot see.
They are translating God again: (that's'carrying across', not 'carrying a cross',though carried away might becloser to the mark). CanYou decline 'Vernacular'?Verna, a home-born slave, hencethe tongue of family. Thediction'ry equates theVulgate of St Jerome, in its day thelingua franca, but only of the erudite —
The modern law aspires to common speech(in contracts, not in court) soGive to Caesar what is Caesar's andLet us pray away our way Yahweh andSave your thee's and thou's.
Jesus said 'G'day mate, why don'tchertry a cast off the point there, Ihad a few bites just now, reckon you'llcatch a feed, at least. I'll get the billy on ...'They knew him in the breaking of the bread:Awesome is what stuns our soul to love andClumsy words cannot make it so.
Hoplon's a shield, hoplite its soldier bearer:Greek, not Roman as Golgotha, where(casting lots by chance, 'aleatory')an outer garment found another corpus:that's a 'gallimaufry' (medley) if you like,but Porter does it better.
–Paul Dignam
Royal Ballet
I make friends with an old lady at the ballet,we talk about music,it is serious and we are serious too,
We are on our own, looking for beauty,ready to snatch it out of the airand stash it in our pockets,
We hoard it for long daysstretching out in council flats,someone else's music blaring between floorboards,
These dancers have us for this moment,both of us dazed,sitting next to each other but still managing to be alone,
We chat politely in the intervals,the rest of the time we watch the beautiful bodies,sway with the score,scour the glistening air.
–Jonathan Hadwen
Paul Dignam works as a child psychiatrist in Adelaide, honing his skills in the poetry of psychotherapy and the joy of family.
Jonathan Hadwen is a Brisbane poet who has been published in Australia and overseas. He has been a guest performer at the Queensland Poetry Festival and the Woodford Folk Festival, and can be found on the first Sunday of each month at SpeedPoets, Brisbane's longest running open mic event.