frangipanni blossoms float
on the pool
cloudless December

Another Christmas list

inveigle shed

gale tent

abrade lawn

enlighten veranda

enrapture weeds

extinguish pool

charm chairs

relegate insects

corrugate cobwebs

abort birdbath

indulge sleeping bags

reinstate pavers

scarify fence

pixilate clothesline

vaccinate cupboards

hang palms

glorify BBQ

ratify gas bottle

halls the deck

and boughs the holly

another poem written from an aeroplane window

she loves the really fast
shudder on rilled air
before the weightless lift
she loves toytown
the scarified face
flicked metal carving the blue
and the secret side of clouds

intoxicated

‘wh’ of wings

against the density of atoms

lift and float of colour

warp and weft of backlit white

scent of morning warm

dissolved in nectar’s memory

a measurement of night,

torn shell birth

dizzy on the wheel

intoxicated

five months in

a butterfly farm

collaboration Amanda Joy, Coral Carter

becomes

clouds rumple
stormy season
- hangs

will break
china cup
splinter
spill

light bounces
all angles

per-ting
per-tang
sproing

when mending
use water

medical conditions
refolded

join a flock
wear the uniform

watch
pigeon becomes chicken

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download drama

start the heart chronicles

some sleep  

like new borns

like logs

some sleep

some dress

like a goddess

or a ghost

a dark skinned

fisherwoman

and her catch

gleams wet

love is a mixture of sentimentality and sex

tears are used to

tears are used

tears are

tears

there is a graveyard

in the light

ceiling fans make poor compasses

the shaman breathed us to life

if you post the broken into darkness

has it gone?

the ordinariness of love

lightning on trees

inspired by nature

play space

sweetest honey is in the tree

a big screen performs

an untold story

with no end

a band of one played

a diary full of blank pages

engulfs my senses with a midnight kiss

speaks in tongues

laughs

claps

maybe the sun will rise

with or without you

waves on a windless day

lichens bleach in the sun

hot forge of two

seasoned with chilli and salt

here is one thing

and another thing

what is this place we are in

on the table mandarin peel

thirty stories of glass

have pixilated the clouds

torn a hole in the sky

love is a violence which compels thinking

you can hear the hammer blows

in the marble slab

see the hand printed

on a wall

cave or brick

Simon Petrus’ feet

rubbed away

place your intercessions at the door

in the place

where they crucified Christ

smashed mirror

reflecting glass x5

chair on the lawn

waits for a sunny day

under a grey sky

everything

drips

I don’t know what love is

if I have stolen

I am sorry

Flags

My son walks                                            I walk
the streets of New York                        the streets of Kalgoorlie
in his red ugg boots                                in my red-dirt stained runners
made in Bindoon.                                   made in Taiwan.

He counts one hundred and forty seven American flags.
I count one New Zealand
           one Danish
           one Republic of Ireland.
I see an Australian flag
caught in a white cedar
being shredded in the wind.

haiku

cemetery -
buck bushes blown
into a corner

crow flies - two flaps forward
one flap back, three flaps forward, one back
- head wind

fog filled front yard
galahs perform a flyby
low

The Kill

A small bird

imagine it young

panicked by a butcher

chased by a killer

crashes into a high wire

butcher bird hovers

then hawk falls-rises
feathered pom-pom in its beak

EPIRB bird  peeps grow weak

in the charnel house among leaves

When

When I learned I was a poet
first I laughed
--then I cried.

empty

Look through other eyes

to see

the blind ghost dance

with a young man

she hugs

his sheathed moist muscles

to her dry bones

but soft skin is served

only to those who salivate

deaf to laughter when she is the punch line

torn lace and broken cobwebs catch nothing

years have screwed her

burnt fingers grasp the dead red rose

—the plate of sweetmeats is empty

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 Soon, she gave up the idea of the skeletal shadow in hot pursuit and poured herself a nice cup of tea.

behind the curtain

a stopped beetle

a still moth

beetle’s legs in the air

moth’s false eyes stared 

tongue

tongue

Co-written by Janet Jackson and myself using a poetry magnet kit

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a smoke ring circles the sun
beneath we burn

my loving friend

hands me ripe figs

torn open

flesh the colour of

my broken sex

crawled into bed

head cradled

in a lightless corner

of night

One for Di

After the goodbye
we all drank tea
together at your house.
Had nothing to say.
It seemed as if
we were no longer friends.

I went home
folded myself away
between the silk scarves
                 and the socks.

16 February 2012

bees push through fringes of blossom

wings spanned bee eaters

balance on morning light

mudlarks march uniformed

on patrol

tails up heads down

galahs at work on the oval

plastic bags arrested against the fence

rolls of wire slubbed on the creek bank

night shift workers play tennis before bed

pok-pok

pok-pok

pok-pok

POK!

In the country

Before I went to the shop I found a book of dreams

curled in my letterbox.

When I read it the corners of my eyes prickled.

Tears rolled out and surprised me.

Walking to the shop I looked up and saw the clouds had written an L

— the first initial of the book’s author.

At Coles a customer

wrote down the name of a friend.

for the I AM IN TRAINING PLEASE BE PATIENT check out girl

to look up on Facebook.

No one minded.

I live in the country.

On my way out I saw two firemen going in

and an old man with his shoe laces undone.

He combed his hair and put the comb in his back pocket.

In the car park the fire truck took up at least four bays.

It advertised a $50,000 reward to dob in an arsonist.

Crows call out at any time of day.

Every afternoon

a trickle of discharged water runs through the car park into the drains.

I like to walk beside it.

Step over it.

Let my eye rest in its silver wet.

It’s dry-dry-dry in the country.

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January summer
holiday month
daylight dogs howl

roadside communion

crows drink blood
take eat
in chorus sing
karked karked karked