The possibility of poetry

29 April 2020

Selected poems

You have to love happiness so hard it hurts

and even this for you is happiness

even when your demons

bless 'em

meet and have a drink together

playing a little two-up with your life

don’t worry about it

enjoy yourself

the view as you’re being tossed this way

and that

sky

then sand

spectacular really

so spectacular that it matters little

if anyone’s placed

a hefty bet on you

or if you meet your end while soaring up

or tumbling down.

The Comrades

I met massive friends

on the clandestine boulevards

slow they were

as oil and tomatoes

happy as beans

from the secret gardens of Sardinia

fearless

and inky

red and redolent

as wine.

Testament

To have been given even

just the possibility of poetry

that was enough

that was more than enough.

Dr John Falzon is Senior Fellow, Inequality and Social Justice at Per Capita. He is a sociologist, poet and social justice advocate and was national CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia from 2006 to 2018. He is a member of the Australian Services Union.

ARTS AND CULTURE

The possibility of poetry

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