26 Sep
PENCIL
Pencil thin.
Sharp but untried.
I met you in a tutorial,
your voice first
from down the table,
then the author
of that voice.
The persona. The person.
The body.
Your colours, black
and white, and a grey
skirt. A pencil skirt.
Pencil grey.
A scholar, without
a stoop. Straight. Linear.
Apart from schoolgirl
curves.
How to hold you?
How to fit you in my hand?
To start to write.
Julian O’Dea
25 Sep
APPRECIATION
I watched the bush from my car;
a kangaroo hopped up and stood
alone; leaving me to wonder what
she was doing, still in the gentle
wind, just gazing at nothing; and
the answer came back on the wind:
the same as you are doing, letting
nature paint your mind.
Julian O’Dea
23 Sep
SEPTEMBER IN AUSTRALIA
Periwinkles dot the green bank
in blue like despondent fans
left standing after a finals loss;
daffodils in groups stand tall
like ladies at the Spring Carnival.
We wait for useful rain.
Birds, wry-necked and nervy
with hunger, clamber through
the empty larder of dry bush,
and turn to clawing up grass
in city parks, going on public
welfare.
The wind blows leaves across
the tin roof with the sound
of departing birds.
Julian O’Dea
19 Sep
The Answer
I never saw him, the lake smoothly lied,
ask the weeping willows how he died;
stir up the mud, it holds many secrets,
ask the reeds what is in the wind;
how innocently the swans seem to glide
over whatever the waters hide.
Julian O’Dea
Now published here.
18 Aug
The Wise Men
The Magi travelled to Palestine
on camels and a government
grant from the Parthian Empire.
Cheated in the camel market,
loaded high with scientific gear
and a few gifts from the royal store;
they let theory guide observation.
Herod got his Brains Trust on
the job, and provided some
peer review; and off went the three
nerds, to follow the Star to Bethlehem.
And “when they saw the star,
they rejoiced with exceeding
great joy”; because their calculations
were correct, and their funding
justified, and their report to
the Imperial Chief Scientist
would write itself.
God sent an angel like a Divine
email to warn them not to return
to Herod to share their exciting
ground-truthed data, because
they needed to be told the obvious.
Julian O’Dea
20 Jul
She planted lavender, and bees
fell upon it like a sunshower;
and shrubs for dappled shade;
and let crazy daisies grow.
Creatures of innocence came
to the garden in their last hour,
tasting grass one more time,
or pouncing on a final moving
flower.
Julian O’Dea
Recent Comments