A week isn’t that long, he said

14/8/00 — Monday: Ache strange that it is, literally, felt in the heart, this chill that is the absence of you slightly off-centre. And that’s how I feel, Off-kilter, unbalanced The tears frozen in this Cold shot lodged in my chest 25/8/00 —...

Bronte walk

I never was a beach walker Days warm down Tamarama But there’s some­thing about the edges of cliffs And the walk between Bronte and Bondi Exer­cise spaces and wooden beams Winds call­ing me to jump and me Barely res­ist­ing. I climb over...

shape changer

you call your shape from thin air change in an eye-blink dream-haunter, it’s you I’ve seen nights, pad­ding down forest corridors. My soul calls to you, my kindred My pack. My body shudders As you pass and our eyes lock, Your yellow animal eyes, My...

Poems of strength and suffering

These desic­cated moments flake off my skin like so much overtime. My hands are dry and cracking, peeled raw and papery My neck my back my eyes I walk slowly down long tramlines in dark­ness with lights behind catch­ing up and winds blowing Down too...

Manic in the night

Up at Wood­ford Fest­ival, Queens­land, Aus­tralia, in the last days of the mil­len­nium, the energy rose as people breathed deeply, pre­par­ing to hold our col­lect­ive breaths as the pen­du­lum swung to the summit, to hang there motion­less moment­ar­ily before...

Body

He died as he must have lived Curled up on the foot­path quietly While cars and people passed by Spar­ing only vague pity­ing glances But def­in­itely no small change. He’s peace­ful — you’d think him Asleep if it wer­en’t for the blood On his temples...