i have it in my face
Kristiva's Black Sun.
It smouldered in June, July.
In August breaking through to pit my heart,
to centre skew September,
to blow away any gift of spring,
if there was any to begin?
Some pretence is authentic
in a show of windy flowers.
But not with friends.
My friend Charlotte reminded me
of the concentrated spread,
guidance in the shade, a reprieve
- the thin veil -
sometimes so face tight
in temples. Cohen’s light
Asking for cracks
"Hold on for October"
Charlotte said,
“They are here our loved ones.”
All last week
Max yelled "Great Grandma, Great
Grandma"
as i upped my dose
he clapped "Great
Grandma” in joy.
My friend Claire asked Max what is said?
Max with one word
held his autistic gaze on her,
"poetry"
- a question? a message? a request? -
She said he had a hand on the book
of Melancholia.
Claire went on to read to him.
Her recitation behind the spring sun chant
"Great Grandma, Great
Grandma."
I think of Jean in his light
lifted
i return to poetry.
It’s been a long time.
And I don’t care if it’s bad.
It feels good.
i write now on my white couch,
door open, a black moth
flies into the house.
i am struck by its liveliness.
A dance above Max’s song.
He stops, the moth stills.
meeting my eyes, Max commands,
"Show mummy your worksheets!"
12/12 correct!
Who sang?
Tick.
20/20 correct!
What Animal at sea?
Tick.
7/7 correct!
i spy ---------------
tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
"Show Mummy your worksheets!”
He chants
"Show Mummy your worksheets!"
Borderline
Dolphin
With my little eye
i hear
Great Grandma, Great
Grandma
i write
Black sun borrowed and bathed
October begins
Tag: poems
POST INDUSTRIAL SMS RENKU is produced by Rebecca Sullivan and Brett Gili. Taken from real life SMS interactions, the collaboration plays with the traditional conventions of haiku to highlight the tension between Feminine and Masculine, Nature and Industry, and Love and Destruction.
The print version of the poem is published in Rabbit. A journal for nonfiction poetry, Collaborations Edition 37
dandelion clocks –
a forecast of wind
behind the mirror
your rough skin and thick neck
my face delivered into working hands
a river salt leached in compound tide
palms breathing internally like a cup
heels compressed into my chin
into the folds of my forehead
skin peeled fingers
bearing weight
your shoulders braced away from wrists
.
in collaboration with Max












First published in Southerly Literary Journal 76.2, November 2016
- noise, advice, conversation and a song under water were not submitted to Southerly.
- a song under water was exhibited along with audio version at the George Paton Gallery, 2017
all audio versions found here
in four limbs around an oval
man cerated
edges framed
and falling to cedar
expanding in triangular
their shadows white
footprints amidst
a maroon sea
the light of ceiling
soaked in a leaking flood
arial footed
lines pasted to the floor
a small diamond window hidden
in the belly of outside
the space behind the chalk
above her number plates
circular on the road
transparent on the window
the bottom of the trolley
on the buddha’s back
over the whole truck
behind an open sign
before the milk’s poured in
inside the lining of her boots
underneath the ‘specials’
the cover for an ashtray
a jacket sitting on the seat
between lips on a straw
the letter Z on a box
the lid of a bottle of booze
a tray glued to the wall
a pale plate stacked on blue




