#250 - thinking of Melbourne in lockdown

                              

 

8.ix.20

250

for the dead city, south

thinking of Melbourne

 

blessings upon Saint Daniel

 

when we mask up

know it had to be someone

and thanks for taking the rap

 

we have Melbourne in mind

remember laneways

and the whole city coffee steaming

Adam Bandt we think always of you

 

that’s two prime ministers in the one poem

(a piece of legislation!)

 

We think about Ned Kelly hanging about

Melbourne, you were once the capital

think about dad in St Kilda before the war

Melbourne you’re a long time ago

and we still don’t know how to say Toorak

except for Skyhook

 

we think of Pru and Trude  

 

we had the bushfires too

how about the state of the garden?

 

all damn demon Trump, Bolsanaro, Duterte

but nothing breaks the spirit like

a spiky little virus on steroids

 

swab me silly

(no, rather not)

 

keep Melbourne in our mind’s eye   

thinking bliss of home worn through

not to mention the closest relations

 

slip into a solipsism

survive

 

could say we feel your pain

but actually have only inkling

there’s no walking the mile in these shoes

not even straighten the tie to go out

 

imagine soaring like a football

and wing it out of the stadium

in your dreams

there’s some physical distance!

 

I could say

we are breakneck down that curve with you

 

but this is a poem thinking of Melbourne

and not knowing what to say