Poem
Martin Harrison
Cine
Cine
Cine
The shirtless youngman pushes (blue tint,
brown) a hand back
over his beard:
and with the other,
steers a lawnmower
over the strip,
stones sputtering.
I film his stride
thighwards, in sun
on broad shoulder-muscle
linked to the handle:
his pale jeans
dinted by light.
His shout’s roundness
is as shiny as
a car top which
repeats his eye
and bareburnt
surface — his
elbow thrust
skims at grass.
There, shadow is
his white’s humour:
his sportshoes measure
the lawn’s growth.
Getting lost in
an uncut patch as
later (now carrying a
filled hutch) he
enters the gully,
snaps off withes
of still pink-laden
springy oleanders
with an upswing
throw that goes
outwards in a
pelt of pebbles,
ruck of clippings.
That green cloud is
thrown into the branches
like rain dripping —
next, his hand returns
so that he may
steady his heel’s
glinting catch.
© 1993, Martin Harrison
From: The Distribution of Voice
Publisher: University of Queensland Press, St Lucia
From: The Distribution of Voice
Publisher: University of Queensland Press, St Lucia
Poems
Poems of Martin Harrison
Close
Cine
The shirtless youngman pushes (blue tint,
brown) a hand back
over his beard:
and with the other,
steers a lawnmower
over the strip,
stones sputtering.
I film his stride
thighwards, in sun
on broad shoulder-muscle
linked to the handle:
his pale jeans
dinted by light.
His shout’s roundness
is as shiny as
a car top which
repeats his eye
and bareburnt
surface — his
elbow thrust
skims at grass.
There, shadow is
his white’s humour:
his sportshoes measure
the lawn’s growth.
Getting lost in
an uncut patch as
later (now carrying a
filled hutch) he
enters the gully,
snaps off withes
of still pink-laden
springy oleanders
with an upswing
throw that goes
outwards in a
pelt of pebbles,
ruck of clippings.
That green cloud is
thrown into the branches
like rain dripping —
next, his hand returns
so that he may
steady his heel’s
glinting catch.
From: The Distribution of Voice
Cine
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