Water from last night’s storm chokes the gutters, rushing
like panic-stricken bulls at a Spanish event.
I’m sitting undisturbed, alone,
on my back steps in the dim light of a Brisbane dawn.
I glance around my garden.

My mind slips from one disembodied bush
to the next, like pale ghosts from a Henry Lawson
morning they stand, not registering on my booze-laden synapses.
I should know these fellows. My mind is not up to it.
I’m not good company, stuporous in fact.

My mouth is a gasping fish, and a yawn
recreates my face. A crushing pain behind my eyes … Read the rest

True love came to me one crisp, autumn morning as I sat beside a creek at the back of our farm house. Mum was hanging out the washing on a line suspended between two trees. Because I was only six years old, I knew that Mum would be on my case if I ventured into the water. But venture in I had to as I saw what appeared to be a corn bag floating down the stream.

The water was freezing cold with a steady current. The stream was not at all deep and I had no difficulty in snagging … Read the rest