POINT PUER
puerile – adj. boyish, childish, immature (L puer boy)
carnarvon bay lies sullen
more corpse than body of water
before a stone hall blue and blackened
another century clear to heaven
retrospective in compassion
whereas convicts showing spirit
had but a ghost of a chance
as tourists through port arthur
across the brine point puer rises
its cliffs an empire’s gaol for boys
where many a maiden kiss
came courtesy of the cat –
after sentences without stoppage
off to buggery youngsters went
to swirl with turnkeys and felons
down this bunghole of the world
his crime not filching snot-rags
from the nostrils of his betters
nor a gut-level misdemeanour
to wit larceny of a loaf
one lad with blood too common
was cast a hemisphere southward
from his ma’s broth thin as tears
for a stunt boyish in any epoch
this youth had made a winter’s trespass
on his lordship’s sovereign estate
daring to skate figures free in spirit
on a lake frozen as his future –
thence barefoot without blade
he was transported to van diemens
the impact of his sport so extreme
as to shame new-age skaterboys
HAIKU
heron alights
with a wide slow loop
fly-casting
wind-chime tones
from the gazebo
rhythm of rain
prawn fleet late …
over the limestone bluff
an osprey hovers
TANKA
magpies warbling
between currawongs
whistling –
wake-up calls
in counterpoint
homestead
slaughterhouse –
leaning
under the weight
of rust and blood
chestnut-breasted
the spinebill siphons
nectar …
a toast for the bride
her tan salon-bronze
