Selected poems
from Strictly Built
[Jesus Complex]
Dad is up above somewhere, and
Mum’s pure as sixteenth century
air. I feel redemption in my brain,
perhaps an effect of unending pain,
so strong. But then I hear a miracle
blend: of kangaroo, and lion, song.
.
[Winner]
A.I. could detect the difference
between a god and their mundane
moves, but not a naked eye.
Waltzes are not games, dice is
safest when loss is, perforce,
minimal – a split with an ex-spouse.
.
[Sympathy]
Naturally, for a mosquito.
Whether insect or human, we are
not pleased to meet one. Pacifists
make them an exception. They form
a devilish, crucified blot: their ink
spilt in a final red initial.
[One Thing]
Knowing you’ve been finding it
hard to concentrate lately, I wanted
to keep it simple. To say just one
thing. But irony creeps in, doubling
meaning. Have revenge on its mind-
bending by understanding only one.
.
[Art]
If art cannot come out of the tunnel,
or abyss, or mass mind, or even
the court at which it is arraigned,
then perhaps it can beckon, can
bring us to itself, while noticing,
[who?] that our shoes are living.
.
[Pastoral]
Your yard’s all standing up with
alive things; my yard is all lying
down with dead. You spread your
largesse with all and sundry. I keep
binoculars at the ready: to detect
unwanted guests / see off their pets.
.
[Hitch-]
Hiking with a blood nose, holding
up a sign saying ‘Hanky?’ I was
at war with the 1970s, trying to
remake myself as a Motel Me.
I was not born in Cootamundra:
polite apologies to those who were.
.
[Portents]
Portents, auguries, challenge
my faith. A star shines over
a publishing house. They have
produced a book by a poet who has
never written a word. Poetry bends,
pretends, protects, its grand scope.
.
[Proverb]
If a warm basket of clothing is left
unattended, and you should find
that a hen has laid an egg in it: if it
is whole than that is a blessing. If it
is cracked or broken, these are two
other, annoying, kinds of blessing.
Michael Farrell is a Melbourne poet, whose most recent book is Googlecholia (Giramondo). His work has been shortlisted for Prime Minister's awards for cocky's joy, and he won the Queensland Poetry Award for 'i love poetry' and the Peter Porter Poetry Prize (ABR) in 2012.
Main image: (Getty).