Aunty Betty
Your final letter said
I know you will think
I’m a wimp.
There was a time
you acquired your own pony
and rode it everywhere
not a done thing
ladies a place and a plate
you had a horseshoe
good luck if you were
sharper than the average bloke
. . .
Wool
Mum unravels the homespun scarf with the holes
that I had put around her cold shoulders
moths got in
and wool became dust
All flesh is as fabric
strands of wool still quivering
bound together by whirling and twisting
lanoline
sebaceous smell of shearing sheds
stretched as . . .
Pacific
I'm sorry for your loss for
the gulf
between us
lapping at your mats
a roll call of cyclones
ancestors crowding
Christian heaven
the clouded lagoon
possession packaging
plastic tangled turtles
grey water black water
I wish you fish
. . .Rosie and me and the 70s
After Bill Manhire's 1950s
Our bride dolls, our bangles
our ballet shoes,
our Moana Pool, our Sunday School
our blazers, our hats
our regulation knickers, our kilts
our paddock our ponies
our ribbons, our rosettes
our saddles, our bridles
our whips, our martingales
our Abba Arrival, our Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road
our . . .
Truffle
Cicero named you
a child of the earth
a pure pungence
Punny
snuffled out from
frozen tree roots
in the fermenting dead of winter
a treasure to prize and pocket
only to have you fall
and roll away
the flavour well made
unbreakable compounds
molecular bonds
. . .
Yo-Yo dieting
The perfect Yo-Yo. It's a biscuit, not a toy, boy. A state, a swinging thing. An enormous melting moment. The biscuit that keeps on giving. Shortening, custard powder, castor sugar. I'm cast adrift and find two too-big chalky islands joined by contrasting sweet passionfruit cream. The first bite, the perfect mouthful that disintegrates, . . .
Last dance
In memory of the Queen of Disco
So little time so much fun
to blunder into each other
a late prima donna summer
afternoon felt the tug of a tiring sun
let all that we had been holding
slip free momentarily fall
loose among the dance party legs
recyclable amber tumblers
knocked over a . . .
