Autumn on Australia Street

Australia Street

I know it's autumn when exotic imports
lose their cargo of leaves
Empty branches startle the sky
Northern cut-outs curling in the sun
catch on fence wire at the school
flooding gutters after rain

In summer the gumtree in our yard
slims down, mindful of the dry spell
Oily crescents pressed underfoot
soften the asphalt under the line
Loose bark hangs in strips for weeks
like forgotten underwear

Gum nuts line the pathway to the bin
tiny hulls, our hidden progeny. 

Un-titled

Dark hands
beat the silence
Curled tight they hold
the anxious moment
— let others slip by

Years of blackness
spread across the palms
— rivers dispossessed
_______tributaries
__going nowhere

Time runs out
with the present fear
— a lifeline held
__in metal cuffs
__caught at the wrist 

Truce

A man carries a child
on shoulders
braced for war

Small hands
hold arms
raised in surrender 

Brenda Saunders is a Koori poet from the Wiradjuri Nation. She has just had a chapbook Firestick published by the Varuna Writers' House at Katoomba. She was resident there recently as the Dorothy Hewitt Poetry Fellow for 2012.