HINDSIGHT
I could give you warning of the years to come,
I recall them clearly.
But advice is like medicine,
often hard to swallow
and
only effective if taken.
I could beg you to listen,
but my words can’t compete
with the wattage of your Walkman.
Besides … to you,
the years that have not been,
will never be.
When the years that will never be –
have been –
will you say to your son –
‘I could give you warning of the years to come.’
17/11/03
DE JAVU
There’s a boy in a washing machine.
(You know, front loader type with glass door.)
The boy’s going round and round.
‘Are you OK?’
I ask, as the machine stops.
‘Yes.’ he replies,
‘I’m OK, are you?’
‘I’m alright.’
I reply.
‘But you’re going
round and round
inside a washing machine.’
He replies,
‘You’re going round and round
outside a washing machine.’
‘I am not!’
‘Liar, liar pants on…’
Chants boy
as machine starts to spin again.
There’s a look on his face
like a kid on a roller coaster.
The kid’s crazy.
I’m OK.
I get up
go to work,
come home,
go to bed,
get up,
go to work
come home….
I’m making good dough.
What the hell would a boy in a washing machine know!
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE
The space between tick and tock
is a unique distance.
Too small to measure,
too large to ignore.
Like an unsatisfactory room,
large enough to swing a sullen kitten
but not a cat.
The space between tick and tock
is a blurred play ground
where Einstein
takes lessons from relatives –
and the devil trades the Pope low tar
smokes
for confessional tape recordings –
to fill the silence
between
tick-tock.
TRAVELLERS’ GUIDE
‘You’re never the same after a journey.’ Nadia Wheatley
This journey starts with an ending,
carries you on a course
back through childhood—
into future.
This journey doesn’t ask
your permission
but takes you anyway,
to destination unknown,
arrived at in time.
TRAIN 1
There’s a train going nowhere.
People are lined up for seven city blocks,
waiting to board.
The station platform is crowded,
all ages with their bedding,
a few belongings,
waiting patiently.
The lucky ones are on board
sitting, patiently waiting,
but even those seven blocks away
feel privileged.
The train’s brand new,
or it was
many years ago.
It’s never been anywhere,
done anything,
except sit and wait,
to go nowhere.
Train 2
Carriages are wooden,
the ones with the sign on the toilet saying,
‘Please Refrain From Using Toilet
Whilst Train Is Standing
In Station.’
People do,
refrain, that is.
What else is there to do?
32
In the station canteen
a middle-aged man
eats meat pies
drowned in peas.
and every so often asks,
‘Any news of departure
time?’
The waitress shrugs,
she’s third generation
canteen worker
and well versed by
mother and
grandmother
in the art of silent reply.
Train 3
Sometimes rumours
whip and whirl
through waiting passengers.
A departure
a time set,
cancelled.
Disappointment falls
like
rain
on
an
outdoor
wedding.
But the wise ones know—
when you’re waiting
for a train
to nowhere
it’s not the journey
that matters,
it’s the sojourn.
WATCH THIS…
There are no poems in space,
you can’t alliterate around asteroids.
Onomatopoeia’s pusillanimous
in a scene where there is no sound.
Sonnets and cinquains
sink into Milky Way’s magnitude.
Villanelle becomes vile against
enormity of dead stars still burning
a billion light years on.
Couplets collapse into black holes,
leaving verse blank-faced,
banal,
plain and rhymeless.
There are no poems in space,
but,
you need space to find poems.
THAT SONG
I know the meaning of American Pie.
ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
in case you think that what you thought you just head
you didn’t really hear-
I’ll repeat,
‘I know the meaning of American Pie.’
Took me thirty years to listed to that song
10.037 times
at eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds
each spin, that’s a long, long time.
I made 22 pilgrimages to the US
thirty years of waiting
outside Don’s house,
countless sifting through his garbage can
for clues,
attendance at 77 live concerts,
103 attempts to interview Don
to ask him THE question.
‘Don what is the meaning of American Pie.’
You know when I finally got to ask Don THE question,
he just smiled and turned away.
I can’t remember if I cried!
Ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls,
there are 37 metaphors
in this incredible song
and through thorough
investigation and analysis
I have interpreted each one.
How do I know that I have
found the true meaning of these
obscure word pictures?
10
Don has arranged for the truth
of this wonderful work to be released,
he says, quote-
‘That’ll be the day that I die.’
So only time will tell.
Ladies and gentlemen
boys and girls,
I can tell you the significance of the Chevy,
I can tell you who the Jester was
and I know what was revealed!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
For the betterment of the human race
I am prepared to share this amazing truth.
Spend no more sleepless nights
Pondering the greatest mystery of our time.
Send just $49.95 (postage included)
to discovered the true meaning
of American Pie.
(Only Kidding!)
The end, always a good starting point.
Though some would say
the beginning
should be your point of reference
to start.
But then,
the beginning is an end,
one end of the story-
and the end
a beginning.
poetrytownsville 