The first thing I did when I got home from work was

get into the shower. It was all I could think about while I was in the shop. Shower. I needed to be clean. I needed to wash the fear and rage and hate away. I pulled my hair out of its tight, oily ponytail, felt my follicles swoon at the release. Ran the water, and as it warmed, stripped off my clothes like they were a part of the conflict, like the were vestments of that disgusting ceremony. Clean! I wanted to be clean. I wanted that woman's words to be washed out of my mind, I wanted the water to exorcise them from me like tiny demons and baptise my new, fresh, unblemished soul with a willingness to love humanity again! How I hated humanity that morning. How I hated its every low, selfish, mean, uncompromising manifestation. How I hated myself. Water. I needed water.

The Camping-Store Shaman

came and
cleared the air of
Her

at first
we'd laughed him
off

but soon
we asked him up the
stairs

and soon
as he went up he
stood

exactly where
Her bed had
been

I don't
believe in all that
stuff

but that's
the weirdest thing I've
seen

In the Garden

What was
that? Moving
in the
garden? As you
spoke so
earnestly? Between the
slow blinks born of
a few drinks with our
fellow, here, and
me?
I'm sure
I saw
the




Truth?




Although, no.
No.
I know
it couldn't be.

Grandstanding

AND THEN my father said well no I'm not going to pay that much for so little HE ALWAYS said exactly what he thought I'VE DEFINITELY inherited that from him NOTHING STOPS me from going out if I want to YOU KNOW the Balwyn shops are absolute rubbish these days WHEN I was growing up in Kew I used to ride my bike to Balwyn and I knew all the good shops for real good quality clothing you know GOOD QUALITY and I was quite good at styling myself you know I'VE ALWAYS had a good eye for these things it sort of runs in my family MY DAUGHTER is the same and my granddaughter too I GAVE my granddaughter $100 for her birthday and for me $100 wouldn't go very far but she was clever SHE KNEW how to stretch that $100 and get some really nice little inexpensive accessories and

he is joining the army

she tells me with the deepest
brown eyes

and something stiffens inside
my chest

something jars and will not
move




and I see him somewhere

dark eyes set on the dawn

my books on my bookshelf

stand as silent soldiers
in the army of hope

waiting for
my orders

The Skivvies

Every year I had to

acclimatise

and every year I had to get used to

being slightly

strangled.

The first days of winter

even cold autumn days

induced a gentle

retching

as I swallowed inside my fetching

skivvies.

Soon

though

I was used to them so

I wore them

the season

through.

Charmi

pushes her bin
between
two prams

See My Hands

See my hands age, see them
pucker, pinch, decay

shedding endless cells with every
dying day, heading to the
heart of death like
April marching to May

See my hands thin, see their
skin wrap a little looser round the
bone, they're being worn in

you see, my hands
are not my own

In this life

you must strike a balance between being cold
and wanting the windows
open

Holiday

4:29am
my dad stops a Parisian garbage man
and tries to ask him
how much money he
makes

I catch

the eyes lighting up like little
windows winking to the
night, spanning the natural
divide, sharing some electric secret
with the wind


(luminous laughter shuffles the stars

presses the printer
buttons)

the woman

wounds

like one who was

wounded