poetry

homecoming

homecoming

our house surrendered
we resume possession
of our regular lives
still irregular
as our neighbors friends family
stand at a distance
out on the sidewalk
masked and awkward
but it is still something
to see their bodies
through our open door
still comforting
to breathe our old house’s
singular smell –
antique timber, dust, sunshine, memory
as the day drifts down
the house welcomes us
in its own way
casting rainbows on the wall
from stained glass prisms
granting us a place to be at ease
at home again

poetry

solstice, mountains

solstice, mountains

on almost-the-longest-day
we walk in sun for hours
scoop snow with our bare hands
cradle an unexpected bit of home
that puts December right

our sons confirm
we are mountain people
at home in the big bare peaks
where you easily see where you’ve been
and have a good view of where you’re going
here you can read the weather well
just by glancing up into unobstructed blue
all the way round the rough horizon
the high point of the peak is unequivocal:
you’ve absolutely reached your goal
standing there silently
we trace the ribbon of trail
all the way back home

poetry

December in Queensland

December in Queensland

Away in a Manger crackles
under an invisible Southern Cross
and full-lit half moon
while the maniacal kookaburras
and blood-curdling bush stone-curlews wail
accompanied by the occasional flaps and crashes
of overgrown fruit bats dangling from the trees
and once in a blessed while
the slightest sigh of breeze

it’s December in Queensland
so far from home

poetry

September: Equinox

September: Equinox

an equinox with no pull of fall
this year there’ll be no
slowing-down shedding-time
no long inward-turning impulse

pictures of home bring yellow and reds
but more the sense we’re moving
at a different rate
to a different clock
not just 13 hours ahead
we’re in a time without seasons
without the rhythms our bodies know
chasing summer
while the people we love
watch for frost