28 July 2024
breath could be
words, no, the calligraphy of bedding – sheets
doona, pillow, mattress – the animals
we sleep with more or less fitfully, more or less comfortably their
fur and feathers
so I can only start now, at the end of the night, to sleep
better, performing, playing for keeps
ignorantly I hold on to life in all its
cummerbund, coke can, electric plugness
disambiguating death and silence – easy as unexpected
celebrity nice for a moment and then the squirm
into familiarity a meme a twang of distant horn
a nightclub door opens closes
a surreptitious itch of ragtime then that rap girl knocks out hellelujah ’gain ’gain ’gain
into the dark the monstrance occupied by nestling crew
there being no first idea no second thought no shotgun paramour
to snort a lane or lullaby no neddy to be stirruped no climate solved
no patient patriot to swallow the collusion no medical staff generating scripts to
take each dose invariably