When you let go - that little bird Into the wild, unrelenting sky One must be willing to never see her again To be free means no burden of expectation
They say, there are other birds in the sky The blackened birds that awaken me each morn Alight upon suburban fenceline Sing their well-known song
There is no one like the one you so loved Love tended and fed, doted upon The one who recognised your voice as you arrived Felt the silence once gone Until the caged perch to which it clung Felt nothing like love at all
A mother's breast turns Feeding the only release Lest she weep in tune with child
How long will it last? Interminable desire To hold fast the nest In contrast to view ahead
So wild sea eagles Soar solo surveying over Rocky shores, pebbles trickle Vast dolomite column cliffs Veering skyward - eyeing one another
Young ones too large for nest I run errands to tick of time Care package a respite For a friend whom I like Caring for other than bloodline
Though I forgot the soy milk Now it's all I can drink The taste of it like a chance meeting Next time I will say the words Until then, thoughts brew Like a heady spiced chai While tea turns tepid At least, the sun and I.
Quiet Corner, Adventure Bay, Bruny Island Tasmania
Going to the show alone One might consider The loneliest thing In the world One, however, might learn To love being merely one In a crowd When the onscreen drama Is far from one's own
Giggle Appear older, naive Ask of other's realities Deny one's own Speak well of all authority Dwell in the home Wear brown, baggy clothing No colour or lipstick Kiss your mother goodbye Hug anyone who asks for it Do not resist the crowd Silence a quiet scream Obedience a vow
Do not confuse silence For innocence of years Nor err of grace Forgiveness as No evidence of blame For all the words Daggers and cloaks Stored up for wintry days Till sunny spring A friendly ear Does melt such icy ways
Richea Scoparia at Lake Dobson, Mt Field National Park
For nigh on a decade Enchanted by tales Of wildest places Where rough edges Bleed out to sea Coarsing through veins Lungs of the world Clutching the land For all its worth From those who take, take..
I trip tentatively Through swathes of natives Unknowingly trampling Rare plants Smudging invasive seed Into mud with sodden tread
No permission to collect I take and take, greedily Hoping vainly To strike a fragile quill A tendril root, a mere bud To bring home all I love
But instead, I raised beds Of shrunken dried specimens Memories snipped from whence they came Never to grow again. Now I learn and dissect Identify how similar or different The naming of all things Already taken place A namesake now only left For stone engraving.
Count the stars of heaven 