#42 - 45 Beechworth Wrap by Myron Lysenko

12.2 (#42):

driving to Beechworth
we discuss “the full story”
paddock boulders

playing I spy
with our daughter
we miss a turnoff




our art deco rooms
on the old asylum grounds
scattered birdsong




we check in
the long red corridors
of the nurse’s quarters

festival launch
on the post office steps
heat of the sun




Little Canton Tour—

cockatoos drown out
the reading

writers peer

into burning towers
Chinese cemetery




opening night
it ends at the table
of free wine

13.2 (#43):

motel breakfast
the girl tries two new
cereals





the small hotel pool
big in the girl’s eyes

suntan lotion



 

I try to live up
to her introduction
haiku workshop




after the workshops
a black cockatoo feather

under a palm tree

gourmet dinner
writers and readers talk
between mouthfuls

in conversation—

the interviewer squeezes

in a question

end of the night
a convoy of headlights
through the trees




at midnight
walking the corridor
unseen people talking

14.2 (#44):

al fresco breakfast
on St Valentine’s day
poems about refugees




morning sun
writers in the shade

share stories




poignant reading—
organizers rush towards
a loud lawn mower





winery reading—

the writers make us cry
and laugh


 

family band

the singer proposes to the leader

onstage

confusion 
his daughter hangs the ring
off his little finger

he didn't accept
the breeze pushing

through vine leaves





the festival
wraps up
bottles of wine




final goodbyes
our cars move away
from the vineyard

motel verandah

my voice louder

than the cockatoos

garden without flowers
empty wine glasses
at our sides




after her rejected proposal a kiss




both of us
in a state of shock
birds circle their trees

15.2 (#45):

time to go home
we explore caravan parks
for our next trip away