Michele Leggott

nice feijoas

sometimes you meet the title
walking home and the first lines
present themselves at the corner
as you turn and the low slant of the sun
means they haven't turned off
daylight saving this year though
the computers switched yesterday
and we fell back not even noticing
the difference   dark mornings
for long evenings      a good trade
but the sign at the neighbour's gate
goes out on tree time and that's
the tuning to set feet walking
over the easily deceived surface
of the waking mind      gold coins
for bags of fruit by the blackboard
under the jacaranda      the clock
at the gate the clock on the screen
and somewhere between them
whatever it is to be done as the day
shakes a leg and the heart puts up

its fun      September's Baccalaureate
a perfect mirror from somewhere else
crickets crows and retrospects      that view
we swim towards in the flat blue water
full of mangrove seeds and the bities
that get between lycra and skin
when the sea is warm and the moon
flies up each night towards Easter

they thought the dog might not
pull through a night to forget
I carried her in my arms when she
could not walk and someone
on the other side of the park
gave us a ride to the clinic      a drip
and many gold coins later
she is ok and the cnidaria stings
have worked their poison out
of our unlovely hides      everyone
sleeps better and is looking forward
to hot cross buns      the togs drip dry
washed out with soap to eliminate
the locomotion of jellyfish
and the poet philosophers turn back
to their elegant connection
of continents and light

Author’s Note

Sources

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