Blue jumper

Queue a mile long
Take a number
Squeeze in front
Unprepared
Sending hugs
If you want one
A string of them
Woven into
Rainbow blanket
Embrace in case of
Feelings of isolation
Many more skeins
Held between
Two hands
Needing someone
To untangle
Loosen
Make sense of it
Never seeming
As handsome as
My favourite
Blue jumper
On you

Liminal spaces

Perched between barren landscapes 
Far as the eye squints
In the distance
Microscopic life dawns
In open spaces unseen
How we relish the resilience
Of some tiny show
Of leaves stalk reaching
Up for sunlight to ignite
It's open tongued grooves
Into being

Yet we find normalised eugenics
Those who exist between the lines
Of normativity collectivism
Turned aside by one
Derided by two
Abandoned by three
Many mouths to feed
Better defend protect
Turn inside out
Than let another
Take the mantle
When the woman till
Ten works then sleeps
A superior breed
To exist in such
Harsh remote conditions
Of isolation
Yet to grace the pages
Of top ten endemic list
For protection
Women and children
Survival of our species

Fascinator

Brush tipped tongue
Painted button
Curvature of spine
Red eye
Double banded
Red capped
Rarity only adds
To beauty
Why not fascinate
With uniqueness
Of each we meet
Instead pick
Feathers ruffled
To decorate head?

One and only
Every love
A scarcity
Endangered
Do we love
To obtain
Souvenirs
Stories
Take away
A part of me
Thrown about
Carelessly
Adorning
Cafe walls
Could hear

Falling softly

Petals of intention
Fell softly on my ears
Floating to the floor
Covered over many years

In every gentle way
She shed truth that I'd forgot
Yet all the choice I heard
Was 'she loves me'~ yes or not?

In this land of make believe
Is where I've made my home
A hundred paper cranes
Tell me how to spot fool's gold

Lover, sister, friend
Only three chords that I play
Spiralled round a seashell heart
As tea sipped smiling fades

Love like

A tidal wave
We all want to
Be bombarded
With love
Post-service
As desert rose
Where the dirt
Lapped up
Falling droplets
Thirst a daily
Familial ritual
Now I turn and see
The high tide mark
Since last week
And beg to breathe
Bloom and grow
Among kindness
Where gentle waters
Steep near
Woolly Tea Trees
By the creek
Quietly

Tempered

Did you notice the subtle ways
Women temper one another?
Like fine blades of steel
No, softer
Turning coarse wool
Into fine threads
Fondled softly
Between fingers
Three strands
Lover, fighter, friend
My freedom ride
To secure my attire
Take me into
Foul weather
A message received
'Yes please!'
Knowing not meant
For me
One to be
The cool breeze
Telling me
To tread carefully
Love is not all
That it seems
As lanolin coats
My fingers
Threadbare
I watch and listen
And wait to dare again

Never to let
The sharp ones
Fray your thread

The garden

Tucked away out of sight
Its secrets lay open
We stroll leisurely
Hopping over tendrils
Peeling back vines
Reminiscent year past
Time allows us
To laugh over
Misspoke words
Jealous greenery
We pause as sunbeams
Illuminate dainty
Cheeks of ripe peach
Silence grows
Like fruiting trees
The seed of many
More meetings
Served with humble pie
And cream
A future like this
Is dear to me
St David’s park, nipaluna / Hobart, lutruwita / Tasmania

Somewhere still

The single greatest
Motivator
Found ever far or wide
A flood of love
From memories
That rise with
Morning tide
It energises
Opens lids
Reluctant limbs
Lift high
Take hand to any
Task unsatisfied
Since evenin' by
The relics stand
High and proud
Resemble who they are
A glimpse of them
A tonic for the
Churning thought to calm
When day is done
The quiet mind
Sends signal
To the place
Where somewhere still
They go about
Their neverending race
A certainty flies over me
A picture of good health
But if not I can rest
Assured my love might
Strengthen well