Exit, Stage Left
There he stood, a superannuated lighthouse
five metres due east of the lone dieback poplar
in the paddock near the dam. Spring found him
outboxed on Arthur's Flat, the next young buck
roo slashing his chest as the tribe lounged round
twiddling claws, scratching backs, staring
into space & another pouch-to-pension cycle
found its captain walking the plank. Now alone
he's all eyes on you & the dog, one ear honed
your way like a dark searchlight, the other
swivelling backwards just in case. Lear-like,
sad & wary he surveys his dumb & empty
sea of grass stretching to no horizon's cloud
but some dry ditch by Blue Gum Road.
This poem is in a chapbook called Collidoscope published by Mark Time Books in Castlemaine. For more about Peter and his work - http://peterlachnewinsky.wordpress.com/about/
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So strong; I particularly liked the 'dark searchlight' of the ear.
ReplyDeleteAnd a wonderful sense of desolation coming through, both in the 'story' & the landscape ...
ReplyDeleteThe "superannuated lighthouse" threw me off for a minute - but it's a beautiful description, once I figured out the metaphor
ReplyDeleteI liked the ear too - being particularly fascinated by this ability ... and the tribe twiddling claws
ReplyDelete