Smiling at Crocodiles

the good

As I chase my near five year old

around the house to squeals of delight

and he kicks and jumps kung fu panda

style, I’m almost in that Mudgee home

and Dad’s running down the hallway

threatening to pull his fake molars out

as I run in to the kitchen laughing, where

the pain that now grabs his skeleton is

decades away.

The owl out there
keeps the herb
eating birds away
and I miss their
arch cries.

silver linings

I can tell you how my small boy
said after vomiting over half the
night - we’re not going out today-
with a hug and a sigh of regret.

but I can also say the sweet
remembrance of earlier times
in how he fell asleep on my arm
as the dinosaurs fought for water
on his favourite show.

we take the good with the bad.

(m)other country

as much as near all my work

critiques England for its

colonial legacy in this still

resistant country  - i can’t wait

to travel there and walk in

London town knowing

that my idols who shape

what little i’ll ever write

once graced such streets.

Today yesterday tomorrow

I see how the spatiality of time

messes with children’s heads,

for continuities mark their days

with cycles of up and down -

awake and asleep - eat and poo -

run and sit - read and dance -

play and wait - so much to do!

They all keep coming around

but the days only turn over

once at some other-apointed

time, somewhere else,

appearing as distinct units

on the linear kitchen calendar.     

A beginning

Here yours is -

take it as a

traveller can -

wind your way

along paths, some

trod, some not -

may we meet

along that beat -

new friend

from old - and

see what places

you find -

fold them in to

paper planes - fly

them out.

In the sun today

I thought a long while about you

the grass was a spiky hard green

and you threw the blue palm-sized

ball up and over and around and behind

running to catch each time and I’m

so happy to get out of your way.

Scooting along

All is going well and there’s

plenty of good to come

for you’re free of most cares

and as you move you hum.