Only then

bathed in mica light

corrugated-iron scalloped clouds

punctuation of desert ants

shepherded by horned lizards

to be baked over quartz.

          Then only cars are strangers.

          This winter wind is infected.

One flake of stone takes wind -

that eremitic locust promises nothing

that time has not already wagered.

                                         Sit down.

                                         You'll see the new growth

just when you thought

the recent rain did nothing but

build a thin skin

over an abyss of dust.

                                                             A new season is ready

                                                             crows know

                                                             & patient kangaroos.

                                         A giant must have tossed coin,

                                         circles come up barren.

There is always struggle,

death is taxes

but today the living have the odds.

ARLO'S CHOIR

All I wanted was a stool

at Alice's Restaurant.

          Would have said nothing,

          but laughed along with them,

each new bit of Indian cotton knowledge.

                                         Congratulations

                                         as every loaf was birthed

                                         from the wood fired oven.

                                         Words were hot, brown & round.

At 15, I saw how everything could work, sexual love/

looking after yourself & others simultaneously, hanging out

in a forest of hair, minor chords.

Illegal dumping of rubbish, the heat of failure

(our envelopes now litter the globe)

but I knew too much then

to let all that go lost.  It was obvious,

the way forward to a time

when my kids would proudly call me "Old Hippy"

& world leaders would be my age!

The first tie-less president.

But we're now wearing necklaces of cars

As many poisons as cuisines.

Kitchens shrink & we are fat.

When I'd earned enough I left my job.  Then the job just disappeared.

Someone has found herself in the space of an hour,

essential oils, massage then shopping.  Our needs bleed.

But with cheap shoes by a mumbling beach,

where nothing is fixed forever/

my head is still acoustic, "have anything you want..."

BLACKHAWK LANDED IN SHEEP COUNTRY

                                                thanks CE

There was a southerly

in the iced wood morning.

which had finally conceded to a inference of warmth

that had shambled down from the north.

Then the chopper's downward wind

owned all the air...

a bleak sum

of so much busy-ness.

Lamingtons beneath

a hydrocarbon arc, he's kissing his cousin's baby.

This unplanned drop in, the moment

when weapons are all locked

& a promise of peace whispers from the lie of the land.

SNOWBOUND, WAITING FOR THE HEARSE

Directions:

If & when freezing Mum she'd want to know

that all the pleats were tidy -

hair done, the best string of pearls.

The deep freeze must be thoroughly scrubbed

then scented with 4711

vanilla

orange oil & hospital grade bleach - effect

eternal but tidy

both practical & kitchen based.

Her hands should be folded

but eyes propped open...

she will scowl at you through all the blizzards/

the frozen xmas bird of mother-love.

LET IT BE

It's no tree.

More a clump, a contest - 3m tall

& I've counted 5 different plants.

The clothesline concedes, 2 fences are fighting

tactics blunt & starved.

Again, I am spectator -

overdue, underrated rain has arrived.

Teenage leaves are tense & moody.

Inclemency - this most basic

cellular sacrament.

It is the only thing that stops the builders

as Sydney clamours to lose itself -

reduced horizon

the beast-truths of touch, shelter.

Something must prosper

as nail and thorn contend.