Lead
Pb– Shelley said 'the sunlight claps the earth & the moonbeams kiss the sea what are all
these kissings worth if thou kiss not me' she describes what she sees a crow on a wire on a
cloud on the sky through the glass through the lace through the mirror by the bed her foot is
dead blown up black as a doomsday balloon & propped on a cushion or two soon she will
heal & she will get up go forth like a bible a trespass a tree he is not the killer he used to be
{drainpipes-tankards-bullets-fuel} but her every lover her filler of dreams her kisser of broken
& bruised she watches him through the pills o puffer of pillows! o swimmer of air! o
bringer of cups of tea! she misses him when he leaves whispers to foot that when she re-
covers she will love him for ever & ever but now he is heading back down the stairs & she
stares at his absence & then at foot & murmurs look! a crow on a wire on a cloud on the sky
through the glass through the lace through the mirror by the bed the sunlight claps her head
describe what you see a room a life moonbeams kissing the face
of your barely-there wife we are soft & grey in our natural state &
date from Roman times we illuminate all the glass of Chartres & are
battered & beaten into shape as easily as a dog how we hammer &
hammer against one another until the seam is hid by our dream & this
dream is unto perfection arise-arise-arise-arise you hold my hand &
yes I get up & walk there is no greater thing we spend our days in
double magic isotopes mouthing the words "miracle" "miracle" try
to describe what we see above the sad trees a ban on marriage by the
European Union a deadly divorce from all solder a fear of a future
that kills us both sometimes but still this room & still this life how
we shine & shine & shine
Antimony
Sb–s news says 'terror! terror!' trans: 'Islam! Islam!' & if you are in the café that day or
your car doesn't go or your cat is stuck up a tree stay calm just think terror! terror! the
Muslims are here! & you will be alright paint your eyes with "stibium" {Latin} /
"guhlu" {Assyrian} / "kohl" {Arabic} & you will be fine this is not the C17th Frenchies
debating poison / cure we are much more enlightened now gone! all those killers of
Victorian
times gone! the apocryphal "anti-monk" moniker {despite the fact the poor monks died}
let us toast him with goblets of fine al-kohl salute him with purgative purposes let us
welcome him into our loveless & battery minds
I see you on the Hunan train pass Xikuangshan Mine travel the primeval "south
of the lake" terrain I see you see the Yangtze & Xiang stop for hot-pot in Mao's
hometown I see you in your previous life when one could be cured of having a
wife I see Nebuchadnezzar & his wonderful walls sending him mad as a cow I
see Johann Gutenberg's moveable type & you planting words round the world like
rice I see Mozart dying & Newton possessed by your weird hermaphroditic smile
I see bullets! bullets! your name on each one I see superacid artefacts witches &
queens I see you gentle in sleep next to me I close my eyes see you wave to me
see you leave on that train away-away-away
Boron
B–efore there is war after there is war always war
think cleanliness next to godliness laundry on
crosses for miles & miles the Victor husbands
the Borax wives think peace think ceasefire
stars in their shared air-space skies over Israel
Syria Crimea Nigeria children at home with
each of their limbs churches & houses the cross-
roads between no dirty no dead think cosmic-
ray-spallation instead think Silly Putty think
happiness things a cheap Pyrex rock in a cheap
chintzy ring think you in my arms pelicans
swirling deep circles above & we in sweet sleep
think peace
Jordie Albiston’s awards include the 2010 NSW Premier’s Prize. Her last two collections are XIII Poems (2013) and The Weekly Poem: 52 exercises in closed & open forms (2014).
Crow on wire image by Shutterstock.