Selected poems
Pestle
We were the sun
dipping low
long past its zenith
we were marked
scratching at calluses
leached of life
me depleted
pestled into powder
away from you
the ground
loosely packed
air I still breathe
away from you
we were the sun
the process has begun.
For Ava
Your mother
is an in-betweener
in transitional mode
from what is, to what will be
over the shoulder glance:
spoiled
a throat-scorching landscape
for the love of you
I tried to make the triangle prevail
until enough
I could prop no more
a collapse of this formation of sticks
stones that did hurt
a soul in unfashionable black
shield your eyes darling girl
I don't know
what will become of us
a looking forward, a dazzle
for this tiny binary unit
is all I can write for
those who spark
then fade
will make their presence felt
but you
you are the lodestar
to light me out
a reminder
of a life to be kissed.
See-saw
If I could write you out of my system
I would
siphon every last drop away
drain the bloodstream
of residual traces
flatten memory
and sandpaper flesh
where skin impressed
upon skin
on your audio track
I would press delete
but there's no antidote
just time's slow crawl
and this see-saw need
to recall
months of fitful joy
when in tune
a pas de deux
we gleamed in a bubble
lightweight
untouched
from the creases of the world.
Words
Through a camera lens
across stage boards
dancing over pages
they hurtle through space
an invisible bridge
the stories that knit
mend the dissonance
between artifice and reality
from lower to uppercase
we speak of little and big
determinism and fate
the weight of our days
accounted
but now, here with me
the pause button pressed
you've stopped.
Dusk
Serendipity
fate's merciful handmaiden
and here we are
Degraves Street
this Mecca to caffeine
black-on-black uniform
specials chalked
heat-emitting pillars
murmurings and talk
our conversation
a stream devoid of pebbles
our faces contoured
by tea-light candles
Van Gogh brushstrokes
flashes of colour
the blond of your hair
the red of my lips
green beginnings.
Thuy On is a freelance literary and arts journalist and critic. Her work has been published in various places including The Australian, The Age, The SMH, Books+Publishing and ArtsHub. For the last seven years she's been books editor of The Big Issue. Author photo by Leah Jing.