
Sydney Mardi Gras


Sydney Mardi Gras

A whirlwind of sound
Light. Colour. Spoken word
Lyrics, whispered shouting
Into our armpits
Wall to wall
At the Queen's Ball.
I wonder where my place is.
A crumpled sticker
On the toilet cubicle floor
Round like the world
Spruiking 'For God so loved.. ' at 2am
To those using the bathroom
A seeming invasion of privacy
I return to the dance floor
To see lovers, women, kissing
Couples dancing to the end
I stand alone watching
Not realising I, too, am invading
Intimacy I do not own
Conversations with new friends
Planning a sapphic bookclub
My eyes drift up and to the right - she says- as I speak the name
A potential future love
Though hope has evaded me before, and likely will again
I shrug my shoulders
'See how it goes'
~'Meet at Sweet Brew it is the best'
But most of all ~
Do it for book club xo
Take my portrait
Hold it with your eyes
Just once admit
That we loved and lost
With pride

In fiction I would be
A tea and scones librarian
With a secret archive
The contents of which
Was derived from many
Hours of polite
Conversations
How the mind
May wander
Is a marvellous
Thing indeed

So tempted
To become someone
You would love

Black cockatoos a more reliable
Predictor of the weather
Heading east escaping vapour
Mountain hidden since dawn break
Abandon all attempts to exercise
Freedom to illustrate
Sparse drawing began
Brink of adolescence, identity elation
I leave the trailing line
Hanging poised quill laden
Ink heavy ready to spill
In favour of waiting
Forever a poem for you
A penned story always binding
Thoughts you can come home to
Though words need never rhyme

As if humble seaside daisy
Clambered for sunlight
In pine forest
Until transplanted
Among seaside grasses
Withered in blinding sun
Unaccustomed to
Room to grow

I gaze upon you longingly
A picture or memory passing
Clasped under glass dome
Of my mind
When did I fall prey
To such weakness?
Surely absence is not
The only cure?
How could I grow accustomed
Such beauty before me
When suddenly takes flight
Without saying goodbye?
Such love is immortal
Each passing season
Revived new colours
Never fade in time

A love silenced is something like death
A Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

As if you start each day by reminding your heart to keep beating
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
