Apathy betrays me on regular bases So long steaming upriver Now tidal flow pushes back Downstream to ocean Where were we going Into heart of darkness? Comrades join in singing Whistling through evergreen Sleepy villages lie Smoking signals Green leaf envy Flying high the sos Invisible by night Jungle hearth glows bright Still no competing With our cumulative Night lights No spreading of anything When living beyond The fringe of existence Life abounds on the edges A catalyst for hiding minds To grow and light fires Just to stay alive This is the way to meditate With a flicker in the eye
No room at the inn For fair weather friend It is rarely so fair So close to Antarctic Even in Bermuda Smooth sailing unlikely When a meteor Millions of years ago Can still mess with Direction finding Compass swirling While land locked ones Hang around in bars Drinking Sunrises By the glass Why is the needle Always pointing South Where the shadows are cast By the winter sun? To those in motherland We are indeed upside down
To have words trampled Beneath the cart wheels On the streets of old St Petersburg Crimes a mystery Hung backlit By brazen streetlight Broken, worn, blue Time it takes To decide ~ are they done? Will they heal? Slowly drip feeding Stew of broth Building marrow Until the shine In the eyes returns Upon hearing A chorus Seeing a glorious Image of affection At mere mention A novel moment Produces a turrent Cascading into Rivers winding Bringing life Bearing it to sea Setting free
Low pizzicato Grows to resonant Rumblings Smooth like honey Touching on Harmonics Whispered words Tentatively Articulated Urging me on Telling me Love has won Wishing it would Appear to me Familiar turn Of phrase Accented praise Behind my shoulder Turn suddenly It follows me Dawning slowly This voice Is here Within
Just as in a day Can take a breath Enslave it By evening freed In listless sigh Of resignation And sleep Don't dream it, be it Is nature's cry As several evolutions Of matter Land on my thigh Her eyes trace the outlines Mating decorations Imagining them away To nothing Come undone Completely For several hundred and one Days spent between extremes Fighting, crying, sight Laughing, smiling, delight No greater affirmation More than three letters Yes, or I do In the still dark silence There is none other But you
Artists of Tasmania ~ Lucienne Rickard. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
Count the stars of heaven 