There is a hawk

there is a hawk

on the poet’s shoulder

watching for morsels

of life

to pull apart into

pieces and verses

drawing lines from

inside reality

Julian O’Dea

better to write

better to write
one death poem
than one hundred poems
of death in life

beats, beats
pump out poetry
from deepest veins

the reading heart
stops
at a beautiful poem but
must go on

Julian O’Dea

Uncaged

Uncaged

too many fine birds

in your head

cage of ivory, cage of bone

let one out to be a poem

to flutter, utter

Julian O’Dea

MOLONGLO GORGE

MOLONGLO GORGE

This Canberra sky is blue with cold
A three-quarter moon hangs
half-way up
Single notes from an unseen bird
hang liquid in the air
Trees and shrubbed cliffs
crowd around below

There are supposed to be koalas
in this reserve
hunched over and sleeping
in the recesses of winter
Hunched in a coat I feel a
Koala Dreaming

Julian O’Dea

Winter

NOW WINTER BEGINS

Now winter begins

like a long argument

you cannot win

Wrangling with the wind

and scolding cold

taking a dim view

Walking past parks

and cold-lit grounds

with departed sounds.

Julian O’Dea

AWAKE

Awake

Fearful the moaning

of the wind,

far worse when it begins

to speak

however low and

indistinct

of what you suspect

but dare not think,

rising and falling

like a conversation

in another room,

soft then loud

like bad news arriving.

Julian O’Dea

bra

putting her hands
behind her back
to unhook her bra
a gentle struggle
a hint of bondage
supplicant hands
with red nails
turned to heaven

Julian O’Dea

Irish Referendum 2018

“The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned”: Yeats

IRISH REFERENDUM 2018

I saw Ireland hanging naked in the rain
dead to her faith
a miscarriage of justice
scrawled upon her skin,
death by referendum.

Why use long-fought freedom
to ape the English sin?
When “the centre
cannot hold” what is to be done?
A woman with an empty womb
hangs in a muddy sky.
The old country is not a home.

Julian O’Dea

“Cats and Boxes”; “Playground”

Cats and Boxes

Muezza, favoured cat
of the Prophet,
ended her tale thus
on the one thousand
and second night:
“O cats who came from
the Libyan Desert
and conquered Egypt
and the known
world with fur and claw,
heed then this tale
of the flying box
which like the carpet
is carried by djinn
directly to Mecca;
I enjoin you to try all boxes
and sit within.”

Julian O’Dea

——————————————-

Playground

The children go inside
vacate the playground
and leave the light
to play alone
glancing and beaming
as a truant wind scrapes
a dry leaf along the ground
like a small boy grazing
his knee.

Julian O’Dea

Love and Dogs

TIME WAS

we could conjure

a hearth and

you let your hair

down like a pour

of molten gold

from a jeweller’s

trembling hand

Julian O’Dea

DOG

Flopping on the bed

our friendly white Samoyed

happily blows phlegm

into the air

like a tiny Moby Dick

disgorging precious

ambergris.

Julian O’Dea