For another specially formatted poem by Ross Clark
Ross Clark's latest volume REMIX: poems ancient & modern is available from www.postpressed.com.au
Three sample poems from the book are available by emailing Ross Clark
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More poetry from Australia
Ross Clark
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Sleeping on the Brine
Midnight pilots the mind to miracles
or mirages. Thought lies anchored
with its crew at rest and no lookout
to warn of the interloper boarding
from the longboat: madness needs
no moonlight, stealths its way to
the wheelhouse, grapples every degree
of wind, every tackle of tide, sounds
every watch with leaden tongue,
marks every depth beyond despair,
resounds its victory in every quarter,
giving none.
Seven Wishbones
Yes, I have sent three crows
to crenellate your guttering,
to stave your powerlines:
muttering their rosaries,
they will watch over you.
Yes, I have sent two magpies
to swoop in your yard,
to carol in your mornings:
they are our morsebirds,
our speaking in their songs.
But also I have sent a single
rainbow lorikeet, whose work
is just to play, whose charge
is to show you colour,
to make you smile.
In my own far paddock
I wear dark feathers in my coat
and await my winged day.
-
(for Sharon)
In Focus
the zen photographer
travelled the world's four seasons
without his camera
when he returned home
he drew these nine pictures
we see here
he never left his village again
A Hempen Helix
The landlord's men have cut my rope
and flung it far from me;
there's barely now three feet of it
still hanging from my tree –
I cannot lash, I cannot bind,
and I cannot take my life:
the landlord's men have severed hope
with their indentured knife.
