Early morning walk in the woods

 

Light, strained through a sieve of stalk and stipule, 

slides across stone and sand, sinks into casuarina epidermis  

and satinash skin, silently sheening every surface 

The air, corpulent with whisper and sighed susurrations, 

softens the breeze to a zephyr, its hushed insinuations 

settling tenderly upon spirit and soul

Steps slow, solid with rumination, neither slothful nor sluggish

Intentional, considered. No need of rush, aimless by design

The sparrows in the tea trees forming a chorus line

The bluing sky signals the cessation of the dawns caress

Not quite soundless, but quiet nonetheless

Mist beginning to clear from the air

Echoes of bird song bouncing off a dam’s mirrored shell

not so much an alert to other life, but a gentle compelling

towards other conversations

This alla breve breaking the reverie and quietly reminding me 

there is work to be done.

MDC

April 2021

The Ploughman

He ploughs her field, breaks up 

her fallow, tills her furrow,

seeds a dream of longing and 

hope. Brutal, physical, pain and 

anguish - from which arises fruit, 

new life, unaccountable joy and 

years of anxiety.

Again she willingly subjects herself 

to his ploughing.

MDC

Dec 2020

Reef

There is a shoal in my lungs that catches 

my breath every time you walk into the room

Sometimes made of coral, craggy, easily 

snagging my attention to the watery 

waves of your silk. Other times it is 

rocky, bursting asunder the hull of my heart

so I drown in your presence.

And when your stormy winds blow, though

my ears fill with foreboding my eyes rejoice 

for the coming aftermath of honeyed calm.

MDC

Dec 2020

Scarecrow

Reaping from what’s been sown, 

I eat the fruit of loneliness; abandonment

my only asset. Left to stand in the rain, 

rooted in solitude, torn by the wind which 

whips my pleas into the whitewashed welkin, 

clothed only in the rags of disrespect and 

condemnation, my vestments mirroring the 

vitriol of my accusers. I am judged for ineffectively 

managing my role - keeping my field clear 

of crows. But at least they keep me company.

MDC

Dec 2020

Dawn

 

Dawn kneels quietly at my window, 

peering in, gently waking me. 

The fringe of the morning, the cool blue of first light 

as the moon's ardour wanes and cornsilk yellow 

silently ushers in the sun, crowned in its 

helmet of gold, bringing light’s unsingable psalm.

The dawn's demure revelation of another day, 

crowned with grace and provisioned with new mercies, 

eclipses the gaudy glory of a day's cessation, 

the grandeur of a sunset incapable of matching 

the nobility of the envoy bringing 

life and hope to all.

MDC 

April 2021

Prisoner

I swore an oath to love a girl for better and for worse

A solemn vow, a curse, a blessing, that would cost gladly dear.

Before the Lord I pledged this sacred stipulation never 

dreaming that this pact would bring dire tribulation.

There was joy, there was pain, there was fearful, dreadful illness

At times it was difficult to find peace and stillness

Never in my wildest dreams did I consider us ruined

But gradually we both became bereft and disillusioned

With no parole from this contractual jail, so dark each future night,

For only death will bring release from this ordained plight

But in the pitch of this dungeon dim behold! there came a light! 

A hand outstretched offering robes washed clean and white.

He Who holds me to my bond approving my avowal 

Ignoring my complaints, and more! - my offensive howl

As His prisoner I now rejoice and at last I see

as I join His sufferings He has bound Himself to me

Like Paul and Silas with shackled limbs ignoring their restraints

Singing psalms and hymns to Him - not fearful, no complaint

He Who rules in man’s affairs, the planner of their confinement,

they knew would test and try their faith, perfecting their refinement

So this oath I swore, this assurance of my fidelity

I realise now was never made by mistake or accidently

And as He works in Me His will, I swear truly to you

I know He will finish His work faithfully and true.

MDC

December 2020

 

'Zactly

Accuracy is important!
Some things require millimetre perfection, like cabinetmaking.
Others need the precision of micrometres, like internal combustion engines. 
We want our surgeons and scientists to be even more accurate. 

What about money? You and I only ever get things resolved

to two decimal places. I read about a fellow working for a

bank who took the third decimal place for himself. 

He made a fortune until he was caught.

 

We measure in millimetres, 

decimal places, 

light years and 

thousandths of a second 

but the most important things in our lives 

are measured in tenebrous,

nebulous,

vague,

clumsy terms.

It seems that the more important the subject, the less precise 

we are about quantifying and qualifying it.

Our youth use words like gnarly, wicked, rad, sick, awesome

and despite the unfamiliarity of whatever word they choose

we know exactly what they mean. 

The ah moment when the penny drops. 

The flash of cognition when we finally understand what our 

small child has been trying to tell us. 

Meeting someone who is a gnarly dude

Parties that are wicked and holidays that are rad, 

Concerts that are awesome.

Receiving a gift that is sick. 

So maybe we only need precision for things,

but when it comes to people the

soft-edged,

furry,

fuzzy, vague and clumsy

is precisely what we need, and filling the gaps 

with unarticulated living is what makes things work.

MDC

October 2020

Car Park

The bays in the shopping centre car 

park are staggered, making the

rows of their inhabitants look like so 

many zippers fastening the grey 

patches together. There’s one bay that 

contains only white and silvers, increasing 

the effect, except for a solitary red 

sedan near the end that spoils the result

MDC

November 2020

Consequences

 Buckling under the weight of 
opinion and condemnation
Peter fills himself with Oxycodone, 
scotch and beer chasers, then 
chases his demons at high speed 
down the straight knowing his 
confused reflexes will be too dull to 
take the curve, causing his parents 
to grieve for the rest of their 
shortened lives.

Unwilling to accept the painful 
loneliness any more Sheila jams 
the hose through the gap in 
her old Mazda’s window 
and finds slow solace 
in the monoxide mist as it 
erases her memories of 
betrayal, leaving her 
friends confounded and 
feeling guilty.

After his birthday party 
on Sunday night, 
Larry’s Saturday-night 
special becomes a 
Monday-night special 
when he places the muzzle 
in his mouth, momentarily 
pauses, then triggers the
door open to hell for himself 
and his family

In our rising up and lying down,
our going in and going out, these 
acts fracture our perspectives,
unsettle our peace and
rightfully ask How did you miss 
their loss of hope? Too late 
for apology. Far too late 
to care.

MDC

November 2020

Shopping Trolleys

 like a flock of sheep, graze 
across the field of the car 
park. Small groups and singles, 
feeding quietly, scattered randomly.

The proverbial solitary jumbuck 
lies on its side, its wheels 
hanging over the edge of 
the perimeter drain, almost

 
out of sight, clinging onto the 
herd by hugging the asphalt, 

waiting for a shepherd to rescue 
it and return it to the fold.

MDC

13/11/2020

Robbie’s Prayer

(For Robbie in hospital)

When the pain came quickly and my breath was taken.

I did not know it was you, Lord

And though in hindsight I know I was mistaken

I did not know what to do, Lord

When the pain comes slowly and I am aware

And I know you have a plan, Lord

I am determined to be in faith and not despair                    

And not be a weak man, Lord

Yet I know in weakness you are humbling me

And your thoughts for me are kindly

And though it feels like you are slaying me

My days of fear are behind me.

MDC

18/02/2014

Recovering from Concussion

1

Half-empty cups scattered through every room.

No wonder I can't find a clean one when 

making myself another coffee.  I can't 

find a clean shirt to wear and discover them 

all in the washing machine still damp from the 

cycle a few days ago.

2

The days are going very quickly or maybe 

it's because I'm sleeping so much.

4

I'm reading three (or is it four?) books at the 

moment and the plots are becoming a bit 

confusing. But the sixth one is really good!

It’s about this person who 

5

I paid a bill twice this week, or was that 

last week?  Or maybe I paid two bills 

twice, I'm not sure. 

I’m watching a new series on Netflix. I 

watched the same episode three times 

before I realised that it's not the plot that 

is slow.

6

7

I drive to the hospital (in yesterday’s clothes. I can’t 

find anything clean to wear) for my rehab appointment 

and get lost. By the time I find the right building I have 

a headache and am so confused I fail the cognitive and 

recall tests. They assure me there were five shapes I 

should recall but I’m pretty sure they didn't show me one

of them. They stop the physio test almost immediately 

and say they don't want to make things worse for me. 

They're all very kind and gentle but I can tell

they think I'm more injured than I really am.

8

My friends call me to ask how I'm going but 

I can't recall what I tell them. The next time they 

call me they tell me they realised how ill I am by 

my confusion on the previous call. I paid a bill 

twice last week.

8

I purchased an audio sound system 

from out of the back of some guy’s van in a car 

park. I arrived home feeling good about something 

I purchased for forty-five dollars. I

didn’t realise until I saw the email from 

my bank - the receipt was for $450.00

I found the speakers in the back of my car the 

next day when I went grocery shopping.

9

I got a phone call while driving into town the 

other day. When the call finished I found 

myself in a part of town I hadn’t seen for 

decades and had no memory of driving there.

10

The rehab people have put me under “house

arrest” saying I am a danger to myself and

to others. I don’t remember meeting anybody 

to be a danger to.

11

My boss rang me to see how I am going, and 

told me that everyone at work sent their 

‘Get-well-soon’ wishes. She told me that Troy 

had come around to fix something for me. 

I wonder what needed fixing?

12

All this stuff keeps arriving in the mail and on 

the courier. I don’t know who’s buying it all but 

luckily I like everything that has turned up so far.

13

I think I'll be able to go back to work on 

Monday, part-time of course, but apparently 

Monday was yesterday so it must be next

week. I think.

14

There’s four hundred and fifty dollars gone

from my bank account and I don’t know why!

MDC

October/November/December 2020