Selected poems
Up
You have to love happiness so hard it hurts
and even this for you is happiness
even when your demons
bless 'em
meet and have a drink together
playing a little two-up with your life
don’t worry about it
enjoy yourself
the view as you’re being tossed this way
and that
sky
then sand
spectacular really
so spectacular that it matters little
if anyone’s placed
a hefty bet on you
or if you meet your end while soaring up
or tumbling down.
The Comrades
I met massive friends
on the clandestine boulevards
slow they were
as oil and tomatoes
happy as beans
from the secret gardens of Sardinia
fearless
and inky
red and redolent
as wine.
Testament
To have been given even
just the possibility of poetry
that was enough
that was more than enough.
Dr John Falzon is Senior Fellow, Inequality and Social Justice at Per Capita. He is a sociologist, poet and social justice advocate and was national CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia from 2006 to 2018. He is a member of the Australian Services Union.