2363
7.170
20.vi.26
we are all
lit
we are all lit
even snout to
the ground
here to be
so singing
with without
the words
it’s as ever
must have been
before
even dark of
dream we are
sap runs a
little ladder up
imagine the
first eye
and the first
sky
before we ever
took a step
a jungle tamed
the heart
2362
7.169
19.vi.26
sitting for
the dark
ekphrastic
for Daniel Boyd’s 2016 ‘ (FS) untitled’
a face is from seeing
hands have held
in a thicket
last of it
there is time
and no time passed
we’re gone
they are here
now listen!
seed and leaf and twig
sitting in the dark for the dark
only a moon to show
2361
7.168
18.vi.26
a
tree grows into a church
ekphrastic
for Roy Kennedy’s 1999 ‘untitled’ –
Police
Paddock Mission, Darlington Point
a tree grows into a church
grows out of a tree
grows clear through my head
grows a cloud
house crooked as our road
and so chimney only wisp
a winch for what?
the mulberry brainwash
commit the paint to memory
this is all against the rules
2360
7.167
17.vi.26
it’s
on the spot
ekphrastic
for Georgia Szmerling’s 2026 ‘reflection of pond with nature’
pretending stillness
called to hours
how a sky blooms
all to a frame of rain
one cannot call the colours
but here’s a beak, an eye
and the creatures
come grief upon rise
we are all hiding
you won’t find any of us now
you won’t find anything here
2359
7.166
16.vi.26
a
quiet desperation
ekphrastic
for Fred McCubbin’s 1896 ‘on the wallaby track’
ticks, snakes, spiders
just for a start
expect sun to burn
tent to leak
the natives
no, they’re taken care of
why,
and what were you thinking
here’s a little shade away from the tent
little languish
belt holding up the pants for now
the grass like rust, a gnarl of trunk
nothing yet a stump
axe holds down the wind
gather twig bent to the billy
do you think it floods here?
summer’s coming
it gets away
the child is showing how half a chance
we’d all crawl off
this one’s a biter
the wallabies have fled
everything’s ready for settlement
nothing will ever grow straight here
soon this will all be fire
2358
7.165
15.vi.26
set
afloat
ekphrastic
for Lorna Robertson’s 2023 ‘Love and loneliness of a young mother’
mannequin pale gone faceless
at least here are some lips
why corsetly
smudge wove bent
there’s the cloud of coiffure
a dripstreak stocking trim
it’s cheering to be so outgazed
to measure silence
let lines run
elsewhere must appear
it’s only the shoes point on
2357
7.164
14.vi.26
mid
winterlight
Gore
Cove Track Series
everything’s larger
with weather
and under a hat
no clock
but cloud to hide a sun
grass grows over rot
how old is what’s before?
brackish whiff
in leafspill
a sandstone wall
the dead stand a long while yet
and I, to catch breath
taking all this in
magpie riff
crow caw
touch of sky
or a voice thrown
stairs are an upward haul
so there’s my tide gone out
some hammering and unwise saws
bitter engines of the city hum
I come for the daydark here
make an X on the page
it’s wherever my feet fall
treasure marks the map
