Poem Category: Australian

Darkness and devils

my head bowed under

these shrieking bats.

In mother’s wake

cygnets bob

the sunshine about.

Too frail to sit on …

still holding its shape

the rotten sugar-gum.

New year’s hour

her breath

in me.

Cellar wines

in cool walls

a cricket’s constant chirp.

Guests gone

still above the pool

the dragonfly’s hum.

Raising a shadow

at midnight

the fruit bat’s wing.

Home alone

spreading in father’s shed

the spilled red paint.

Midday sun

slowly ending

Sunday’s lay-in.

Descending

to the pull of tides

the bay’s pelicans.