KA Rees #57 - Rasping upwards

Rasping upwards

Could do with a bit of rain, the sky a broken crayon

the end of orange and black chewed through

heaven a bite of blue and heavy slate grey. A few specks

against the pane, washing hanging densely on

the line an imprint of falling dark, patch of tears—a pear

a peach, the wet tongue of a koala licking runnels from

the trunk. Rain falling; sleek wet, a dirt cigarette

ash under feet—this harsh embrace.

Rob Schackne #1030 - Hidden

Hidden


Large pink paving tile
surrounded by weeds
pushed up from below
different points of health
the wind gets stronger
why not blame me
ants are motoring
the eyes see more
because they're wider
forget the name of things 
birds know the score
how tender can you go
the game is always
forces no one sees
everything the same
please don't let me be
misunderstood again

Kit Kelen #1421 - orchestral

1421

orchestral

I dream the dizziness again

step up and here

a helping

steps in circles

like a club

it’s the smoke

various states of undress

there was colour can’t recall

breathless with waking again

lost the baton

of course must watch my head

feel the thousands pour from me

ping and ping and ping

that’s the world reversing

kind of a whoosh percussion

lost voices to a tune

open the big glass doors

the city’s all let in 

Jeffree Skewes #137 On message

They write love songs
long winding roads all in time

musically scoring spaced
a language notably marked

by codes designed to play
with minds and hearts a harmony

whatever else their stories written spoken
to audiences this art comes so close to life?

witness alone the intention calcination
time spent the negotiation listen we're in

a wild hoax of expression signaling
humanistic virtues not really attained

but for moments suspended animated
escaping from daily life the grinder

milling alchemy finer toward what's at the core
or perhaps the slag on the outer edges of sentences

rolled gold fantasy or thrilling excitement hardship
troved as mental lakes replayed reimagined retakes

by now this journey's pickin-up passengers
coast to coast and we're on board whizzing past

dressed-up it's so much fun committed
invested to a journey on a road to nowhere

another page one more versed situation
lying awake dreaming

our place in reading has its part to play too
and so happy to meet everyone how do you do

this being the alive business
unfolding as it were in stories

without ever leaving the space of our hearts
nothing can be retrieved or returned

so here in this moment at least
unlived life is started

KA Rees #56 - bit ordinary

bit ordinary

The electricity
                          has finally
                                             come back on

The house
                    across the
                                       road

musn't
            be
                   Rome,


for they
               built it
                            in one day.

Kit Kelen #1420 - in time beyond

1420

in time beyond

we ghost it

lap the track

all champagne shy

until the ink runs out

sun fades the words

to emptied air

still hallowed yet

you’re not

nor I

no one is

thing led to another

no longer

work memory off

by mere event  

apocryphal truth

Wizard of

MayDay from another side

Do you read me?

no longer this or that

just these

unknown initials

ambiguous date

(pick century)

whisper really

all it was

this scratch reads

‘I was there’

KA Rees #55 - morphology

morphology

MACARENA, malapropism, margin, mien, mission, middleman,

marry, marriageability, marrow, material, mascara, mate, mine, matter,

measure, mechanical, manual, millstone, metallurgic, meteor, Mercury,

military, militia, migraine, mark, magazine, mirror, mitigate, moat, misguide,

mordant, monogamy, monosyllable, mope, mire, misadventure, migrate,

meaningful, mundane, menu, morphology, messenger, missing, motive,

misfortune, mistake, multitude, motto, moss, misnomer, misuse, mutilate,

mortice, monopolise, murder, mutiny, mortuary, moribund, music, mystique,

multiplicity, monarch, moon, moonshine, mariner, map, moor, mahogany,

mouth, morose, mortar, mulch, mohair, model, mix, mishmash, molten.

Kit Kelen #1419 - sun tap

1419

sun tap

beam in  

little bird

hop

thing of childhood

as in the dream

tells nothing

cannot quite reach

white sails dot

blue for as far

have seen the harbour

dims to chug

and all these little lights were

vanish in

there was no writing then

take this

swallow

good for

arrows lean to show

yet there is a colour faded

there are these pale notes

truth to light

so fashioned

what’s that?

and why?

I hide a cloak

in mystery

when words were new

worlds inventing

cosy by

led from

dough stretch

and bake

let animals all in

we’re home

first of things

particular

give me smoke in winter when

beside a steaming cup

nothing to put away

KA Rees #54 - Ocular

Ocular

ORATION, ocular, optical, optics, ornithology, order,

ornate, ordinary, ordinariness, original, orthodox, ordain,

oscillate, octane, onion, off-hand, old, obligation,

obloquy, oblige, oblique, obey, obeisance, oaf, obdurate,

oblong, obscene, offer, occurrence, odd, oddity, odd-ball,

off-putting, ogre, obsequiousness, obsolete, obsess, obverse,

offer, operate, onslaught, opaque, onerous, once, opportunity,

optional, optimism, oral, orb, orbit, ordeal, order, obnoxious,

outweigh, occurrent, outskirt, outmoded, outlandish, outline,

outlaw, outcast, outcrop, outbreak, outcome, outsider, outpost, overrun.

Kit Kelen #1418 - underwriting

1418

underwriting

most of your houses won’t burn down

how long until there is intention?

some fall

and some are blown away

meaning

some are eaten

first sculpted by ants

light thrown down

again, again

would sinners lift their eyes to it

here’s age

and all the parts replaced –

the members of a house

a lounge of limbs

and lewd suggestions

not politely asked

most of your houses won’t burn down

but here’s a street alight

say alcohol has fuelled

all the violence of a home

won’t knock most houses down

were forest once

or mountain fast

have heft

are hewn

almost all change hands

or hand me down

let’s not forget flood

change of climate

continental drift

most houses won’t

some do

volcano and the quaking too

there’s electricity gathered

all fuels

what odds?

set actuaries on

many are so inhabited

one creature feeds upon the falling

some are simply bitten

plague till the place is condemned

a house may have been scrubbed to death

hoovered up and binned

wrapped in leaves

or a haunting dark

made dust

here’s fruit

say lemon gone bush

little wings attend

some were never on the map

or plan a subdivision

flat granny

little paws pass by

the guardian tree

and all the garden round

still there

say Sunday rubbernecks

ask how long will it stand

we’ve left it out in the weather

you memorize a shape – that’s it

rattles winded with the gate  

so secret to this having stood

and all these years to slam

there’s someone’s welcome in the walls

over we go

skitter

all the old ideas until

we’ve guessed home and here

think of a roof to catch

was someone else’s ground

forgive me

but I can’t go back

in moonlight

how the fires remind me

most houses won’t burn down

you room it

to contain an echo

walls divide the voice

come in out of

to the skin

and cosy up by

cup of it

much metabolized

long in digestion

taken for a smile

begins at a stretch

with a mouthful of nails

more hands and feet required

Jeffree Skewes #136 Sacred

Air grows acrid grey

throats are speaking less blue

spirits sniffed and tasted

if this breeze keeps up

tears may follow

right now blanket covers

smothering any way out

thoughts follow intuition

her power's in the moment

the land since before

the way way back

decides which way

mother the source and destination

nurturing the play-creation

respect is all we can do

smoking ceremony

clearing attention to 

who mother really is

welcome to country

image:     A Welcome to Country  / Invasion Day 2016 Aboriginal Embassy Canberra smoking ceremony  / JMS

KA Rees #53 - colonoscopy prep

colonoscopy prep

It may

be

said,

I’m mostly

full of shit.

In this

instance

that would

be

incorrect.

Kit Kelen #1417 - why must all this be taken from us?

1417

why must all this be taken from us?

for godsbother

others live with

crawl the walls

they climb, slide, hear them

we give where

all orchestras of leaflight

birds as they go to name

Marslanding, such rehearsals  

things, obviousness

the kisses descending

this touch – maybe

the blood, the bone

tiny pawprints

till love, the image reads

skies for praise

and creatures less departed

it’s appetite despatches

one day the weather will be ours

waking is a premonition

meanwhile attend to what will be taken

we will be gone by then

under these covers lie

half asleep with a question

tin, all array of shelter

heights, streets

and view from the saddle

downhill apace

days led away, names never knew

winds to which caution has thrown

lines echoing of all before

this word forever meaning gone

sweat of the job that it’s done

why must all this be taken?

and immortality goes on

having thought

a trill and trip the wire

go down

truth, the white lie

queue of abstraction

fact of I was and you

days of smoke see it so

hardness and shy cleft

breathless wonder

all such habits of the poem

old ideas and new

you know it to go

and with this last gasp

will have you noticed

there is no one to ask

why must a ghost give up

?

KA Rees #52 - In which the boy realises the hero isn't on this page

In which the boy releases the hero isn't on this page

In this poem he’s a baleen feeder full of fingers and nails,

he’s a wonder of keratin and hairy fringes, product that

twists curls to ringlets – a power socket full of Eraserhead.

In this poem, he’s a jailhouse of Presley sideburns, black

and white stripes— a uniform, swinging air guitar, musical notes

staves and bars. In the next stanza he’s coming undone, pasty

in eight minute old light from the sun, he’s carrying

glasses and squinting at cosmic radiation; it’s

a long way to find his type of atmosphere and blue sky.

He's realised the limitations of this situation, that

a mouth full of fingers and nails, an excess of facial

growth and his particular set of windows are sub-optimal.

In the next poem he's asked to swap out this
kingdom for a horse. Can't say I blame him.

Kit Kelen #1416 - closer than you think

1416

closer than you think

one gets used to a scarcity

it spreads

here’s the last leaf

I say salad

gulp for air

clutch at belongings

not enough grease to turn the wheels

no tiger for the tank

I kid myself

where the joke runs cold

turn on the tap

for the fairy dust

one has to love hoof made paths

the dew falls for a fact

books when there was only one

someone else had to read

dole temperatures out

till something like warm

or breeze to other end the year

like a sun forgetting first thing

sky lost to rain

mnemonic for what?

track ends then here we are

so quietly and listen, eyes shut

who’s that in the garden then?

time is the telling thing

Jeffree Skewes #135 Breath

Air grows acrid grey

throats are speaking less blue

spirits sniffed and tasted

if this breeze keeps up

tears may follow

right now blanket covers

smothering any way out

thoughts follow intuition

her power's in the moment

the land since before

the way way back

decides which way

mother the source and destination

nurturing the play-creation

respect is all we can do

smoking ceremony

clearing attention to 

who mother really is

welcome to country

image:     A Welcome to Country  / Invasion Day 2016 Aboriginal Embassy Canberra smoking ceremony  / JMS

KA Rees #51 - Pattern for an Arsehat

Pattern for an Arsehat

Arsehat, colloquial term given to Australia’s highest order of political achievement. Previously

referred to as Prime Minister and currently worn by the Liberal Party’s Scott Morrison - Urban Dictionary.

The pattern required for a bat wraps says,

preferred size 45 cm X 45 cm, use 100%

cotton flannelette and poly-fill stuffing.

Koala mittens are needed for burnt pads

of furry marsupials, they held onto bark

of their engulfed homes; they had no place left

to go. Rest the koala template onto a piece of cotton

fabric and trace four times, cut out the mitten

shape and sew together 2 x 2. Leave bottom open

so that a burnt paw may be placed inside.

Attach woolen tie to X so tie can

be wrapped around the base to tighten.

Repeat steps to create second mitten.

Repeat again, and again, but not

too many times as koalas are functionally

extinct, their habitats lost to land clearing,

killed by cars and dogs, and the policies of

successive federal and state governments.

Wildlife pouch tutorial, please note that

liners should be 100% natural fibres

no synthetic fabrics or anything plastic

No thread that glitters. No bullshit brinkmanship

or pushing out platitudes such as ‘thoughts

and prayers’, no raising of empty palms

pressing flesh to the greased wheel, no

having a cold one for photo opportunity

with a quiet Australian quietly sobbing

for all that he's lost on the nightly news.

That pattern is too well known.

Rob Schackne #1029 - "Controlling fire"

Controlling fire
water is on the way
there is entropy, but
then you have to see
how gale wind makes
the big trees grow
gusting with a fury
machine guns spit seeds
fighting for my heart
heat enters my home
in the thick here & now
smoke nowhere to go
I was some place else

Coalescence Part 2 # Claine Keily 141

Here the streets blur in the dust. Cars rot in my neighbour's yard. I see it all. There is only chicken wire between us.

He is young and already divorced, I have been told there is a child also. He is new to the mines. We are both new to the desert. He cuts down trees then waters his rooftop to stave off the sun. At night I hear his beer cans fall from his outdoor table. They rustle in the dark beside my new planted saplings which are already burnt despite my attention. Our airconditioners groan, worn out, asked too many times to allow us to sleep softly while they murder the heat.

Kit Kelen #1415 - on fire - be water

1415

on fire – be water

from a dry place

a poem for Hong Kong

I thought of you again today

your autumn

how it cannot end well

here more and more aware

of the weather

a fear of lightning now

someone has turned the planet for money

and now they hide from the fact

but it isn’t all about me

stand up

it’s right to be water

in a house on fire

is that what we’re throwing now?

oops, I forgot

and how do you tame your dragon?

it’s only in imagination

there’ll be chimes times up

seen this sort of thing before

am I a superhero?

is this a game?

a walk of life from everyone

I have an amazement for you

dragons aren’t tamed

they go down in the dust

then another dragon gets up

we are all Chinese after all

except for language, skin

and there is no religion

never thought it was in you

under attack must defend

better be water though

do what you must

better to die on your feet, is it?

nice theory but I’m worried for you

likely I’ll be wrong again

I can smell the smoke where I am

can’t tell the tricks of the wind though

I had thought it was all about money once

that someone on a ledge leans out

someone’s about to jump

that’s your graph

and glorious

somewhere west ones of a difference

are chained to a desert to die

stand up

we are wronged

there is no doubt

who is it tricked us to here?

another island’s floating off

how may I separate your empire?

 oops

mustn’t call it that

must not say emperor

or stir up dust

all of this for fear

distrust

show no mercy they say

stand up

pretend that I’m American

liberty goes down in a heap

always had a gun this

but I’m the one defenceless

aim at me

make martyr

is it for freedom?

is it for right?

for something we caught on TV

diseases of fine print

never underestimate monster

vanish for nothing, will it be?

a bottle of fire is thrown at the smoke  

the world turns

and will the world see

over the border

read only lies

all of the lies about me

stand up

stand up

walk into their fire

place bets

it’s all about who to be

it’s right to be water

in a house on fire

am I a superhero?

is this a game?

hear crackling through the static

that is the past

and it’s coming again

the future goes like this

imagine the dragon

you’re born to tame

there are so many questions

what’ life worth?

mine? yours? anyone’s?

all bets are off

is it too late say

step back?

all that won’t be forgiven goes on

there is no umbrella

for so much rain

all the rain is fire

will I be hero?

and who will I save

when no one comes to save me?

don’t catch us in a corner then

apologies, must flow!

in a poem it’s not so simple as life

it’s right to be water

in a house on fire

Kerri Shying R #593 - In the water

In the water

the bats fell  like ash
across the five am grey sky
in silence always cars
waiting birds not fooled by
alterations to the clocks

mosquitos take a full hour
to waken I've time
to tend to beets to trees
and listen to the air

on my pillow    eight to twelve
large spread paw prints
in dirt four toes
a fat pad I see it
treading in comfort while
I slept then notice
the daddy long legs
on the end of the pen

my nature is in the mornings
before this brain   blows itself up
into new order rightness
before the spies of commerce
whistle and click
along the lines

KA Rees #50 - 50 wahoo!

50 wahoo!

Now early to bed
off you go, toodle-oo
a poem for another day.

Kit Kelen #1414 - about the darkness (a quick grope)

1414

about the darkness

– a quick grope

for fear of abstraction

we both know

because of niceness

had to get away with

the cheerful keeping of the shop

rakish and will be boys

wink and you’re away

free smile

even advancing in age

because love was unconditional

came with the faces assigned

business as usual

the baggage

and a notching up

better left unsaid

could not keep it in

we both know

all

how often asked

forgot the permissions

because of not mentioning

a thing went on

this kiss caught

a misdemeanour

everyone knows

never told

minor omission

wondering what

and how far back?

the breathlessness

in justice and out of it

blame the drink

idea of damnation

building of new hells

their renovation

imagine born this way

that’s the theory

get a travel guide for the fairytale

there isn’t a curse but forever

there are no gods to forgive

Jeffree Skewes #134 Sea of numbers

after & for Kit Kelen #1413 watch and act 

image: Sea of numbers / synthetic polymer paint on cotton paper on timber sheet / 114x166x3 cm / JMS

KA Rees #49 - Migraine

Migraine

Whispered a splinter dug

into two hemispheres light a throb

threatening to swamp lurid

chemicals, scintilla. Lost

to deluge, jangle display nausea.

Raise you a scarlet heat for a sudden grey,

long suffering distress echo for a moment

in dark of the darkest shade.

Kit Kelen #1413 - floruit

1413

floruit

past certain things and still

alive awake aware

this bloom!

you look for a sign

and you’re it

an out-peering

fresh of breath

weary with just hearing the scores

but here’s a view from the top of the game

from

fall for me

we go down together

do the mortal coil shuffle off

to be the sunshine let

rain for a need

cloud carrying member of the poem

and often unseen influence

unacknowledged for a lack of laws

come creeping onto a next page

there’ll be the daisy pushups later

timing is all

even especially in the dry

and likely to light

it was here they’ll say

this part of the century  

a kind of map

thought something not thought heretofore

of course one is remembered wrongly

then not remembered much

and then there’s not at all

there’s nose to arse by whiff

by half a head

by drool

sit down with the words like this

the words and we were always there

see how she/he is blooming now

just follow this simple prescription