the long ago
in the slow cat's bowlsoaking days
wild bird seedon the porch
you wipe down a kitchenwhere you are now finally dominant
heavy days ordering joyin wild bird flight
& a cat too well fedto chase, & a son
at one end of the tablehow tomatoes tasted
in the long agofrom a mother's garden
mast
leaves fall form sails a vein of purchasein the wind & in the guttertwigs on a stick rattle bone
Eucharist
& it is here we have staked a lifecounted off the steps & measuredwhat it is we needa sun blast under the tongueas hands dissolve in prayera beat of rain on rooftops
weatherboard
road wraps ribbons bowed to a futurespread through a planted forest& then the open palm of grain
trucked in tight on the cornersthe rub of tyres to a broad sweep weatherboard& blocked in five hectare dreaming
patterns disappear out the windowthe awkward stiffness of the hotel's stairsa rattle of routinesboutique designs at the feet of mountainsa hand painted even blue of cotton wrap sky
the railway station is air con coolsoft seats & the cricket is on televisionEngland is winning
soft light the river risesto the stumps of peeling weatherboard
cutting a sway along these thin back roadsdrive on the crest& drop to the left over a verge of cut grasswhen something bigger then you approacheshold tight
the coast is jagged like a weeping cut
the high end of townpizza beer duskthe evening is a take away vacation
the net has holes as big as fishhands salt stained swim slippery wet towards each other
the hotel's curtains hang flatagainst the open window's main street
petalsfor Helen
maybe it takes somethingthe death of a fatherto get a handful of grand childrenonto an out of season beach to scatter petalsin the shallows which roll around their limbsprickling needle points of coldunder a blank skywhile their parents punch out & punch throughtheir eyes pinched against the wind& the ashes
south
flat line horizonat the end of a graze
a floating dreamsmoke stacked
& silently sailing south
Rory Harris won the 2008 Satura Prize. He teaches at CBC Wakefield Street, South Australia.