A massage Smoothing over All hard places Flooding in Joints and sinew Touching pain Bringing healing Warm movement Entering in Tentatively Slow moving statue Rising up again Brought to life Ready for anything
Artist Margaret Stephenson, ‘Annie’s Nails, No Mermaids’ ~ City of Parramatta Art Society
Stay Not long enough To admire your Kaleidescope of colour Drifting away On the next breath Of wind as I exhale Disappointed Yet inspired To have known you In the first place Lie in wait in case She returns to our First meeting place Wondering weather Does lightning strike In the same place? Random encounters Rouse hopefulness Capture the infinite Beauty of a moment Chance encounters Of your kind
Butterfly by Katy Bhogal, City of Parramatta Art Society
Shedding her skin Never knowing when To see her lover again Ebony arm band Holds and keeps her From unravelling When catching glimpse Of one just like her Close your eyes Imagine Light is dim Colours dancing Not easy to Give in Somewhere else Someone else Minds clasp fingers Across the distance Constant surrender Night lights win
I am no blank canvas Her voice carries Over exhaled droplets Float on chill air Chiffon stiffens Over her breast Pertinent news Traded for lashes Poignant painter Strokes her curves With tip of brush Dipped and licked Tip of tongue Flicks with gossip Gleaned from models Like this one But not All the stories Laid out to honour The delicate shape Of her ear Dripping with pearl drop Lungs fill suddenly Then stop As a fine hand decorated With a spectrum of splatter Adjusts the neckline Then dabs another Skin colour Deep and divine
Portrait by Lily Allport, State Library of Tasmania
Unfinished work poised Graphite brings to life It is her Or a great ancestor Also looking into me With cool blue eyes I surmise by their clarity Following gaze More striking than Mona Lisa To be continued Should years between Remain open to Chance meetings A love that does not Need to say, achieve No affirmation Endless invitations Abandoned As fruitless as asking A native bird to Fly to finger Quietly observing Turn around again The view from here Is beautiful indeed
Her face rides out front Body carved by artisan Not a live one steps foot Lest to say farewell Till return to homeland Her likeness revealing The love of artist heart Like a woman of dreaming Unreal onboard Writing home to her Every single day Or some piece to hold onto As tide carries me away
Carved wooden piece from Svenor’s figurehead, wrecked Newcastle 1914. Donor Alistair Gibson. ~ Maritime Museum of Tasmania
Count the stars of heaven 