Poem # 51 Farmhouse

Farmhouse

Ruined farmhouse in
crepuscular light
parquet floor a mosaic
of rabbit and sheep
droppings.
Sagging linoleum
in the kitchen
below the old
kooka stove.
Peeling wallpaper,
dust doing its dust dance
in the half light.
Nothing else to indicate
a man and a woman once
lived here in
love and hate,
had conceived in
one of these rooms
or the other,
three children
one with a physical
deformity the parents
were ashamed of.
In this house jam was
dribbled on the floor,
urine swirled around a bowl,
and dreams on a pillow.
Children left, never to speak
to their parents again.
On the wall illuminated in
a shaft of sunlight
a bleeding heart,
and outside the house
a shroud of blackberries.

Poem # 50 Life

Life

Like a rock climber dawns rosy fingers
pulled themselves over the horizon.
At peace for one moment and
hands behind my head I stared at
the spider webs in the corner
where the wall met the ceiling.
Then she said,
" Every time that I tell you
that I love you, you say nothing,
but that's your problem"

I had an inner dialogue with myself
( thought bubbles ) " If I say
nothing when you say you love me
it's both our problems.
My anxieties become your anxieties.
My confusion becomes your confusion.

In life children confuse parents.
Students confuse teachers.
Patients confuse doctors.
Individuals in the flock
confuse pastors.
Those in love who have confused hearts,
confuse those in love who have clear hearts."

but I said nothing.

" You need to see a counsellor!",
she said getting up out of bed in
her underwear momentarily illuminated
by golden beams of light
in which floated myriad
particles of dust.

Poem # 49 Penrith Blues

Penrith Blues

Well I'm going down to Penrith
I believe I'll dust my blues
Oh yeah!
Well I'm going down to Penrith
I believe I'll dust my blues
Yeah! yeah!
Well I'm going down to Penrith
What have I got to lose
Oh Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lord!

Well I'm going down to Penrith
I got Panthers on my mind
Oh yeah!
Well I'm going down to Penrith
I've got Panthers on my mind
Yeah! Yeah!
Going down to Panthers
Gonna play the pokies all the time.
Mercy! Mercy! I got the blues Oh yeah!

I saw a pretty girl Oh Lord she looked so sweet.
Oh yeah!
Well I saw a pretty girl oh Lord she looked so sweet.
Yeah!yeah!
had a tattoo on her left foot,
had a tattoo on her right,
Said " lift up both my feet
If you want sex tonight!"
Oh yeah!
I've got the blues so bad,
I'm almost wishing
I was dead!
Oh yeah!

If you go down to Penrith
wear
a bright bandanna
round your neck.
Oh yeah!
If you go down to Penrith
wear
a bright bandanna
round your neck.
Yeah!Yeah!
Caus it seems that down in Penrith
reds
the only colour it will get.
Oh yeah!
Lordy Lordy, mercy mercy, Good God in heaven.
I've got the blues.

Well I'm going down to Penrith
I believe I'll dust my blues.
Oh yeah!
Well I'm going down to Penrith
I believe I'll dust my blues
Yeah! Yeah!
Well I'm going down to Penrith
What have I got to lose.
Lord Lord, mercy mercy
I've got those low down
pie munching, chip crunching,
bottle sucking,
Lonesome blues!
Oh yeah!

POEM # 48 Junkie Calypso

Junkie Calypso

One morning when I woke up late
a junkie was standing outside my gate
the sight of the junkie so un-nerved me
I had to sit down and have a cup of tea
I really don't know what that junkie might do
I really don't know what that junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what that junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what that junkie might do
The sight of that junkie was getting me down
so I thought I'd take a stroll around town
but when I set off - junkie set off too
and when i cut back - junkie cut back too
when I speed up - junkie speed up too
when I slow down - junkie slow down too
I really don't know what that junkie might do
I really don't know what that junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what that junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what that junkie might do
When I sit down junkie sit down too
When I stand up - junkie stand up too
When I stroll around junkie strolling too
When I turn around - junkie turn round too
When I went inside junkie did that too
I really don't know what that junkie might do
I really don't know what that junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what that junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what that junkie might do
I take a walk into the CBD expecting to lose that nasty junkie
but when I went to the matinee -
I found the junkie sitting there with me.
When I walk down the street junkie walking too
when I jump on the train
Junkie jumps on too
and then when I went to pick up my stride
there was the junkie there by my side
I don't know what this junkie might do
I really don't know what this junkie might do
I really don't know what this junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what this junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what this junkie might do
I mean I really don't know what this junkie might do

Poem # 47 On leaving an empty house.

On leaving an empty house

A full house is a home,
it has a rhythm and beat of life,
a pulse, it sings a song.
An empty house is clean, utilitarian,
a machine for living in.

then just as you turn to leave --

a widening shaft of sunlight illuminates
a corner and you remember that's where
the sewing machine stood,
and the negative shadow shapes
on the wall were
positive family portraits,
and on the refrigerator
was childrens art,
a glorious gallery lyric
celebrating life.

Poem # 46 Weeping

Weeping

Why feel sad? Why cry?
Is it because you see reality more clearly?
Cry for lost species
eliminated to sate our appetites.
Cry for magic that has been forgotten.
Cry for those who won't try
to find the poetry that surrounds them.
Cry for those trying to be someone
other than themselves.
Cry for originals who
want to be modified.
Cry for children who
act like adults.
Cry for those who are free
but think they're prisoners.
Cry for those who betray
their sex.

Poem # 45 History

History

Can you jump in the same
river twice?
When we look at the same painting
is the painting that you see
the same as the painting that I see?
Why gamble our share of the present
on the future?
Investing every misery towards a happy
ending to our history.
Our combined story will never end,
either happily or unhappily,
it ends every second.
Content for some,
discontent for others.
One second up, one second down,
the beat and tempo of a rhythm,
all ways ending, all ways not ending.
Is there anything, or is there
nothing to wait for?