Tuesday Poem - Blood Love by Coral Carter

Blood Love

I met my cousin

on Wilson Street

at 16 he dived

into a rock

did time in a chair

now walks with a stick

feet twisted out

like Charlie Chaplin

but no one is laughing

we met last

at uncle’s wake

the ghost of our grandmother came

cursed as she poured the whisky

down the drain

the girl cousins

sang sad movies in their underwear

our cousin broke down

said we didn’t love him

we said

blood love

is deep and red

it stains

that was before another cousin

wrestled him to the ground

in front of 36 Varden Street

to take his keys

not that he had a driver’s licence anyway

we rang a taxi and sent him home

we remembered his father

who won the lottery

drank 12 longnecks a night

until his brain dissolved

my cousin doesn’t drink too much now

he has given up on women

they drove him to it

happier alone

his daughter – up north

his sister – round three with cancer

he wears the Aboriginal colours on his wrist

a twenty year old hat

black jeans skinny legs

I met my cousin on Wilson Street

not the kind of bloke

some would want to meet

but

blood love

is deep and red

it stains.

Here is a poem from Coral Carter’s new book – Descended From Thieves – which she just launched in Melbourne (with my book Ungainly) and in Port Augusta. I think there are launches coming up soon in Kalgoorlie, where Coral lives, and in Perth. As Coral said – “Everyone wants the free wine.” Or something very like that.

http://www.mullamullapress.com/