Dial tone
Up and down the hallway
phones are ringing
he went to school
the kitchen is full.
She would've said it
who could stop him?
here is the doctor
I have to sign.
A million squeezes
now certification
I the informant
after all this time.
Snaps of wafers
viewing arrangements
handles like that?
who would make them.
One then another
proofs and papers
'no flowers please'
ward donations.
what a creation.
Wind
Trees are moving houses.
scavenger squads
are sling-shot,
flung at squall speed
gather like tea leaves
the day has no front teeth
it raves in the street,
it is grey as a tap.
a murky x-ray
of a multiple trauma
the front door keeps whistling
old songs about going away,
even the radio echoes
'just say the word', Sinatra sings.
these hinges hate me,
not one screw will stay put
they are moving out,
the evidence is
to anchor a cabaret
well you wanted to see a temper
remove a frequency.
Family tree
A cage, a bloodbath,
an acorn of vanities
adorn display cabinets,
decorate the perch.
Some trace to esteem,
stretch sobering feats
some wipe dust
from cobwebbed boxes
Run slave with beast
seek recent arrivals,
indentured drudge
at clearance prices.
Usher silence
uncover gloom
find pummelled men
in boiler rooms.
Shocked on walls
or dragged
from drawers,
ghosts in pleats and hats.
Befuddled grooms
in full costume,
heirlooms
framed by naphtha-flash.
All dearly beloved
waiting in heaven
yours to the last,
remember that.
Floating mountain
in memorial stands,
cool climate tweed
Mountain Ash,
lopped amputees
a daguerreotype
of breath in beams
cottage prints,
tea-towel fernery
filtered fathoms,
gilded shadows
latches, snibs
and boiled sweets
evening gowns,
tentacle jewellery
fountain lights,
drizzle below
Alistair Stewart is a poet and editor and the author of the critically acclaimed verse narrative Frankston 281. His new collection, Plain and Purl, from which the above poems were taken, will be launched by Father Bob Maguire at 4pm on April 14 at Gasworks Arts Park in Albert Park, Vic.