jesus went to apec on thursday as he’s had a long term interest in the asia pacific. given the traffic restrictions he decided not to drive so he dispensed with the motorcade and caught the south coast train to central station. he walked the way he always walks when he goes to sydney on a mission, following the traffic lights, the green man and the tripping tu tu tu tu tu tu for those too blind to see. he first came across the falun gung in hyde park and he watched them and their five poses and their patience, forbearance and tolerance made him think twice. he took himself to macquarie street and soon the road fenced him in to the intercontinental hotel and some black cars, a four wheel drive gmc flying a commonwealth flag and osama bin laden being arrested while the police demanded the id of digital witnesses. he captured the scene with his camera phone but the police blocked the best shot so he moved between the barriers down to circular quay for some seafood and typically after this type of walk, a couple of pints of guinness at the merchantile hotel.

Published – ‘Writing to the Edge – prose poems and micro fiction’ Eds Linda Godfrey & Ali Jane Smith. Spineless Wonders, 2014

Let them speak to you

of madness of God while they

are psychotic deluded hearing

their voices frightened of you with

knives in their hands following

the wind pacing the street in

communion with traffic lights in

that lucid time when they are in

dialogue with their demon spirit

the one that leads them to those

other places

Let them speak to you

________________________________________________

Published – Sacred and Profane, Ed Gemma White, Only Words Apart, 2013

Photo – a sword found on Puckey’s Beach, November 2023

you went down to the water

you went to the water

you went to water

you went too close to the edge

you went to the edge

you went too close

close to the water

close to the edge

you went down to the water’s edge

you edge closer

__________________________________________________

Published – Sacred and Profane, Ed Gemma White, Only Words Apart, 2023

Photo – East Corrimal Beach. March 2023

Published – Rabbit, a journal for nonfiction poetry, ed. David Stavanger Tense, no. 27, 2019

I pick up the shucked jaw

of a beer bottle from

the rock platform

under the shadow

of the headland car park.

At the water’s edge

my daughters collect jewels,

sea-sanded silica,

pieces of people shells.

We walk from Towradgi Beach

to Bellambi Point

and they teach me

about beaches and glass,

smoothed

and shell-shaped.

In the wash up

real shells burrow

feet first into the sand

and only broken,

hollow pieces conspire

under my children’s feet.

__________________________________________

Published – ‘Seeking Horizons’ SCWC, 2014 Anthology

Photo – Puckey’s Beach, Fairy Meadow, by author

In my tree

the cockatoos

never the diplomat

arrive right on dawn

and again at dusk.

They are wheeling white flags

trusting their voices.

Flying in from the escarpment

they warn, “Iraq, Iraq, Iraq…”

but then when settled, “talk, talk, talk…”

They preach these things

so loud and long

and the only missiles

projected are disarmed

by chemical warfare

sponsored by Lever and Kitchen.

But I observe

their yellow streak

and that sulphur crusted

landscape that disturbs my sleep.

February 2003

Published in anthology Poets Against War Australia, part of a global protest of over 12,000 poems sparked by Sam Hammill, presented to John Howard on 5 March 2003 as a protest against Australia’s involvement in the proposed Iraq war. 119 Australian poets represented in the anthology, published online at the Poets Union website www.poetsunion.com.

Photo. by author

From one side of the partition

she looked up

from her tossed salad state

and mineralised water world

put down her implements

and guided him

a disarming smile.

On the other side

of the international cafe

he was diverted

from the impending roast

and wiping red wine

from his generous lips

he mouthed sweet nothings

in retaliation.

_____________________________________________

written 1989 – first published Eureka Street, 29 April 2008

for Joan Meats

i. Aristotle

The crystalline onion skins

of Aristotle’s universe

moved me

and before me

this moon

the planets and the sun

in perfect circles

around the earthly sphere

of water, air and fire

and in the ether

the stars

were eternal

and unchanging.

ii. Cat’s Eye Nebulae

We were all once stars

matter layered

inside stars

the projected dust

of some super nova

touched

by a butterfly’s wing.

What of these rings

this cross section

cut through

a dozen or more

concentric spheres?

Each dust shell

is the edge

of star mass more

than this

solar system’s

planets and moons

projected by helium flash

once every 1500 years.

If these are the final

drawn out gasps

of a dying star

then did you

shed shells of yourself

in those first

motions of death?

iii. The Fundamental Law

In seeking truth

I find beauty.

In finding beauty

I see truth.

And as I peel back

each familiar skin

I come closer

to the fundamental you

and the emergent possibilities

of our eternal symmetry.

I look to your discarded shell

and understand

that you leave me

with more than just

these layers of memory.

iv. Towradgi Beach

Walking alone

on this southern shore

I see waves

that are water slices

shaved in succession

by the continental shelf

the next one forming over

as the spent one recedes

and I understand

that our past motion

is your energy stored

inside of me.

_________________________________________________________________

Published October 2008, SCWC & Wollongong Art Gallery

in response to Onion Skins, Joan Meats 1994

(12 june 1988)

cross-legged he squats demonstrating his empathy, understanding and handiwork. an old fella speaks, “draughty shelter this,” as sad eyes roam over a corrugated landscape. the compact white leader shifts his weight, “a true reconciliation is in this draft treaty.” an empty promise’s silence disperses the floating words. wind on a windless day. “listen mate. negotiations in accordance with constitutional processes will lead to committees responsible for consultation, organisation and dialogue that will culminate in expected conclusions allowing for a more self determined management with compensation for dispossession and in addition a recognition of integral national systems.” the old fella replies, “big words. long sentence.”

First written in 1988, on the occasion of the presentation of the Barunga Statement to Prime Minister Bob Hawke by Yolngu Elder Galarrwuy Yunupingu, this version was published in ‘Landmarks’ – an anthology of microlit and prose poems. Ed Cassandra Atherton. Spineless Wonders. 2017

It won the Newcastle Writers Festival/joanne burns Award, 2016, National category: Barunga Conversations, Tim Heffernan

there are no butterflies in iraq he said as we were watching the one day international on a green pitch sponsored by taubman’s easycoat anti-bacterial wall paint. and the dugongs have disap­peared from the reef, he continued, because they could not live with the white bleached coral colours in vogue these days, and sea grass is so sixties. meanwhile abbots, bishops and their laity are denying that climate change and fertilizer and runoff have anything to do with perceptions that butterflies don’t exist on the fertile plains of the euphrates river and that poets don’t have any responsibility for saving species at risk of extinction. we watch the paint dry during the ad break worried about australia’s position in this game, but are reassured that the government has come up with a plan involving the cricketers, the painters and the butterflies to produce a colour card that will be accessible in any bunnings from cairns to wagga with all the colours of the reef ready for walls in lounge rooms, bedrooms, and with the addition of an anti-fungal additive, in wet areas such as the kitchen, the bathroom and the great barrier reef.

first published in ‘out of place’ – prose poems and microfiction. Spineless Wonders Press, edited by kirsten tranter & linda godfey, July 2015

translated into arabic by haider catan and kadhem khanjar. https://al-akhbar.com/Kalimat/267831

photo – object found on East Corrimal Beach, 23 December 2023