Selected poems
River
& the road spiralling outinto a landscape, blurred hum tyre kiss of distancepicking up scents & wash of the River salt & die backfrom when I worked on the landscapean all year sun tan years ago
orange bauble hang of Christmasthis big old River taking its time to irrigate an imagination
gathering in the warming day Chaffey Housemonuments & on the strip of ourselvesdesigner drinks & a lifetime of knockoffsflooding the heart for tourists
high vis workers eat the pub breakfastthe suited travellers have vanishedthe beer taps are closed off
the road & river flatsoranges grow to the vergelooking for swans in Swan Hill
regional galleries& their big ticket items
town after townhugging the curves of water& pulling from it a life
homeware & lifestyle shuttersopen at nine, six days a weekunpacked in the espresso bar
Echuca is a string of hand held familiesin the sun, their floppy hats nodding overice-creams smeared ear to ear
in Bendigo we sit on the bedeating treats from along the roadthe Age is our tablecloth
the ghosts of parents past, promenade the High Streetthey holidayed closer to home& always travelled with a deck of cards& a bottle in the suitcase
a rattling of revisiting a River history
weatherboard wood smoke perfume rugby tops & alla choreographed swing of enterprisethrough the Sunday farmers' markets
hills wrap Castlemainethe trains have stopped running& the fruit & veg is biodynamic & the sky is scattered woolas a child would blow on a dandelion
the familiar is worn like a coatwe bend our shoulders as the rain becomes a River& flows through the gaps of ourselves
for Jennifer Haynes
& somehowI never picked up
on your noticemaybe our blood had
thinned a littlebut even before your death
silence echoed an absenceas I think you would have
turned inside & gatheredall that had to be done
in the wrap of family& a literature of lists
& delegationof how you wanted it to be
tree
I can't recall the tree ever being plantedit just was, one day a sapling which just grewsome sort of flowering eucalyptout of place in the front yardamong a willow, ornamentals & daffodilsI don't remember the year of the drought which killed it offbut its stayed standing & deadmaybe fifty foot & brittle for what seemed foreverwith quotes for its removal stuck to the refrigeratorthe old man was never keenmore indifference than costor the indifference of costmum always liked it when it floweredwhen the old man died & house was soldthe buyer knocked it downalong with the old man's housea