For a long moment: July tanka 2010

Our small cul-de-sac
ghostly and peaceful at once
is perfectly still
under the three points of light
from street lamps and rising dawn.

6/7/10


There are some who like
the wild, wet cold of Melbourne,
ferocious traffic
etcetera. There is no
accounting for tastes, my dear.

7/7/10


My aunt’s wide warm smile
greets me now from the DVD
my cousin sent me
of the recent funeral:
the photo on her coffin.

13/7/10


To go deep, I play.
How solitaire frees my thoughts,
poems release them —
so I find myself able
to float on those depths, then dive.

****************************************

Oh splendid sunset
peach-coloured over the hills,
the navy-blue hills
ringing the fading valley
where the light starts to withdraw.

For a long moment
light suffuses the valley
with warm clarity.
Outlines of trees and houses
glow as light pauses, withdraws.

Like a dying fire
behind criss-crossing branches
red intensifies:
the blaze before the embers
when the light flares and withdraws.

20/7/10


He ran to the car
(we’d paused at the traffic lights).

‘Quick,’ I said, ‘Get in.’
He collapsed on the back seat
laughing, his dark curls bouncing.

27/7/10