deep sea heartache - in 3D!

exit stage starboard

you were in my dream last night
just a bit part
you walked in the room
waved and said hi
I was sitting in a chair made out of hundreds of small brass anchors
I raised my hand
which turned into a fish
and waved it back at you
you said
i'm not hanging around this nautical themed dream
the overt symbolism
suggesting that you're out of your depth around me
is so painfully obvious
I can't stand it
and you walked out of the room
which was more of a deck really
I lowered my hand
which swam off into my pajamas
I turned to Leonardo DiCaprio who had been in the corner knitting a lifejacket out of seaweed
and said
do you think she saw you?
no, i don't think so he replied
good, I said, that would have really made her mad.

perspective

Late night street
walking with friends
car goes by
somebody sticks their head out the window and yells
"JESUS LOVES YOU!"
that's nice
at least somebody does
five minutes later
another car goes by in the opposite direction
and another head appears out the window and shouts
"GET OFF THE STREET!"
it's good to get a different perspective on things
and at least we were loved
for a little while

under Melbourne

I have a Reading this week

For those in Melbourne this Friday evening I will be giving a reading in support of the book launch for fine local poet Justin Ashworth.
Details as follows:

Launch for Fleeting Poetry
poems by Justin Ashworth
with music performed by of, or pertaining to...
Friday the 18th of March @
The Artery
87-89 Moor St, Fitzroy (near Labour in Vain.)
special guests
Craft (voice, harp, percussion)
Sean M Whelan, Steve Smart, Meg Dunn (spoken word)
& DJ Hired Hand
free entry, book/cd packages availible for $15.
starts at 7:30.

yep, that's free entry. so come on down! what have you got to lose? be nice to see you there.

the sky below our feet (or how to find a lost car)

You can’t remember where you parked the car.

We fashion a replica out of pizza dough

paint it with the appropriate food colouring

make tyres from olives (more salt equals better grip)

car doors from capsicum.

tiny versions of ourselves from goats cheese.

I cup my hands to form an oven

using warm thoughts for fuel

sprung from the knowledge this will be the tastiest car ever!

A bell goes off behind your ear to tell us

our pizza car is ready.

I unfold my hands.

We smile.

Look how proud we are!

We carry our pizza car aloft down Brunswick St.

“Have you seen this car?” we ask.

“It looks just like this,” you say. “Except it’s bigger and less tasty.”

They shake their heads in a negative fashion and turn ravenous eyes until we fear for our pizza car.

We turn to flee, as we do stars start falling from your sleeves.

Your jacket is filling up with stars.

They tickle.

You giggle and say “this usually only happens when I dream.”

Stars are dripping from your sleeves like water.

They gather in a pool at our feet. They cover the street until suddenly

the ground has become the sky.

We’re well dressed satellites

turning the heads of astronauts.

From up here we can see millions of cars.

But which one is yours?

Spinning around the earth is harder than it looks.

We stop to rest in one of one hundred rotundas specially constructed for Angels on earth patrol.

We gaze hungrily at our pizza car in the palm of your hand.

But we’re on a mission!

“Maybe you should retrace your steps?” I say.

And there are your steps falling from your feet, floating beneath us all the way back to earth.

We follow your steps, until there are more steps than stars and there’s your car, exactly where you left it.

On the drive home the pizza tastes… delicious.

for Evelyn

where satisfaction lingers

this is my city

Beautiful isn't it? Blue moonlit Melbourne. This photo was taken from the banks of the Yarra River. I like walking along there sometimes and I try to find the spaces where satisfication lingers. The holes we find that are neither full or empty. Neither sad nor happy. The moments that remind. Those lines across your palms, those beacons of your eyes, those compass points of your arms and legs, the angles of your face. You are the map and sometimes the city holds you and says where am I?.