Sport 18: Autumn 1997
Janet Charman — Winding Up Here
Janet Charman
Winding Up Here
spread out warm
under light rain
you have this
close packed tropical vegetation
round the house
and my heavy coat's only good for
weighting the blonde
wood of the bedroom door
you don't impress me with your plant
and pool and
holy rolling black sand beach
lozenge ladies favours
spilling gaily into Welcome Mollusc Road
and the cabs are full
getting into
a looser dress
moving through the suburbs on a
short visit
that turns to living
with these strangers
page 40
as family
where was i from?
the wind on a rasp
in an army greatcoat at the bus shelter
i'd be ill in a deep pocket of cold
fire in the hearth
the updraught of intellectual pursuits
leaves a grand
chill in a room
lawnmowing
machetes the edges of the
crowding hills
nudged us toward valleys the ocean stifles
lawmaking
all hail
the icier pellets
and dustings of snow on the tops
meant it was warmer than
yesterday if you want to know
consult the blue blood
at your fingertips
grey teachers boom from the beach beside the train station
strapped and strapped
and the class kept in
lines
undone Dad
home late on The Unit
eat without
his plate trapped weeping over the hot pot
and that big snotty boy held back
because no one
not even he
knew he wasn't thick but deaf
long hair dried slowly there
a pick up in the bar at The Carpenter's Arms thought
‘how greasy’
unless i let him handle
the damp hemp
and find it washed
this is my verandah room
my three quarter bed
banana palms shove up to the window glass
sea grass mat dust
drifts grey
below the straw grid
my giant's feet rock the basement
where the shift worker sleeps
banging on the ceiling with a broom
a furious storm brewing
mutinies to endure