#73 My Dogs

My dogs can experience sorrow, grief, and joy.
They can plan ahead, laugh,
and even deliberately deceive.
They have cognitive ability.
As I gaze into their compelling eyes
I wonder why it has taken
humans so long to accept that
our fellow animals
think and feel like us.

# 71 Holmes and Watson

The incomparable Holmes and I lay side by side, our fingers entwined beneath our heads for comfort on the spongy moor, staring up at the sweeping celestial vista above us. "Tell me Watson",he said "what is it that you think of when you look up at that magnificent panorama of sky?" "Well Sherlock", I replied taking the liberty of using his christain name because of the intimacy of the situation. " when I look at that sky at night I think about time and space and the amazing complexity of it all - Sirius - always the brightest, Orion, then the planets - Venus and Uranus. The constellations travelling slowly across the roof of the world from dusk till dawn. The precision of it, the quiet orderliness of the stars, that endow oneself with such a sense of freedom. - Why do you ask that question dear friend? Tell me, what do you think of when you observe that sublime grandeur. " It's elementary", Holmes replied after a pause for thought " someone has stolen our tent "

# 70 On a Roman Road

With a grinding of cams and gears the bus slowly meandered down country lanes cut very low by cart wheels hundreds of years before. " " The land of fog and mists!" quote Julius Caesar when first his sandelled feet stepped out of the Trireme onto the shores of this our emerald isle..... from wence come you, oh dusty traveller? " He spoke with fruity tones of rum pot richness cultivated in Oxford and Cambridge. Haunted by echoes and spectres of shirt lifters and pillow biters I didnt deign to reply. Later she admonished me: " That vicar was trying so, hard to start a coversation with you, but you wouldn't even reply!" For two decades I tried to make up for that mistake. In all regards I acted with kindness, sensitivity,and empathy. I did unto her as I would have someone do unto myself. I tried not to speak unless it was kind, true, or necessary. With love and affection I tried to illuminate the dusk of our relationship. Finally slowly, oh so slowly, I felt I had atoned for that mistake back in the heavy airs of Avalon, and I stepped out the door knowing that alone in my darkness I had indeed become a Cain in the wilderness.

Poem # 69 The woman in black stockings ( or is it pantyhose?)

There is a beautiful woman in black stockings (or is it pantyhose?) sitting on the bus stop bench looking tired at middle age with her raspberry lips. It's hot in the sun and the day at school has been dull, and going home is dull, and I drive by in my van peering at her warm legs ( through one way mirror sunglasses) her eyes look away - shes been warned about ruthless and horny men; she's not going to give it away like that, and yet it's dull waiting out the minutes at the bus stop, and the years at home, and the book that she carries is dull, and the food that she eats is dull, and even the ruthless and horny men are dull. The beautiful woman in black stockings (or is it pantyhose) waits She awaits the proper time and moment, and then she will move and then she will conquer. I drive around the block in my van peeking at her legs pleased that I will never be part of her heaven and her hell, but that scarlet lipstick on her sad waiting mouth! It would be nice to kiss her once, fully,and then give her back, but the bus will get her first.

Poem # 65 Coles carpark mid west coast.

Eavesdropping in the sauna like heat in my Toyota, sucking a mango seed, relishing the sublime furry flavour. Like the tidal stream of the Indian Ocean people ebb in and out with the social flow leaving bobbing in their wake the detritus of their lives. " Shut up, you little cunt! One more sound and I'll send you back to your father!" " Of course you're the father Kevin, You were there when they cut the cord, Jason means nothing to me!" " You know it's amazing when you kiss me - you're more like a guy - you're wife is one lucky girl - you thirsty? Let's get a breezer. " Groceries loaded we steer the Landcruiser down the channels between the parked cars and head for calmer waters.

Poem # 64 Bodyscape

This uncombed hair of head grows like the wild grasses of this round world. My body lays on its side with undulating contours of hills and valleys. Long deep breaths flow in and out like the wind along the edges of mountains. Blood winds along veins and arteries as do the streams and rivers in soft countryside. With eyelids that close on scenic vistas and reveal the darkness of the night, and hear the vibrations that storm across our features like a hurricane through the night.

Poem # 63 Yallabelli Creek

There is a dip in the ground where Yallabelli Creek soaks among dead gum leaves, beyond that large ghost gums and bloodwood and paperbark and eucalyptus begin to take the place of accacia and wattle. The continued tossing and pouring of the wind among the gum leaves sufficiently conceals the sound of my footsteps on a moss covered log. This soft sound is for the ear what a moonless night is to the eye. I move cautiously slipping from one big trunk to another scanning the surrounding bush for signs and meaning. The two dogs sniff quietly at wombat and rabbit burrows in the creek bank. Suddenly a kangaroo passes like a shadow through the underwood in front of us and we freeze motionless in a bush tableau, except for this part of bounding retreat. This small bush environment may have been certainly deserted, but now that this poor startled roo has run, she is like a messenger sent before us, and with squawk and rustle, parrots,rabbits, echidna, and lyrebird all exit the area.