Poem
Pam Brown
In Ultimo
In Ultimo
In Ultimo
leaving nature’sbarbarism (spider
in a glove) behind
me I enter my
paved city –
pocked concrete
& traffic carbon –
sky’s all
coppery night’s
coming up
I follow
the man-in-the-dress
along a lane
littered
with litter
where
Carlo & Zanzi
have signed
the sub-station
roll-a-door –
more than a tag –
a declaration –
white strokes
wide brush
no lights on,
no one home –
downstairs
short striped rows
neatly arranged,
more organised
than the library
I work in –
I stand before
my bookshelf –
wonder if
I’m a little crazy.
anyone on
the answer machine ?
up to the third floor
for a lean
& a musing –
what colour’s my posture ?
what colours my posture ?
here’s the view
from the balcony –
grey & darker grey
brick wall office
windows computer
screens & tv screens
nearly always on
an office cleaner’s
smoky silhouette
gently inverting
wastepaper bins
under large
cibachrome photos
of American
stars
look skywards
imagining –
every passenger
has taken
the holding pattern
to heart
I should
show some vim! –
drive the car
somewhere,
walk into Chinatown,
loop the city
on the mono-rail,
decipher
an ignoble idea,
cook dinner –
toss
the colander of penne,
careful
not to steam
the B. Smith
& B. Holliday records
stacked
on the dish drainer –
all washed up
‘n’ ready
to spin.
© 1997, Pam Brown
From: 50-50
Publisher: Little Esther, Adelaide
From: 50-50
Publisher: Little Esther, Adelaide
Poems
Poems of Pam Brown
Close
In Ultimo
leaving nature’sbarbarism (spider
in a glove) behind
me I enter my
paved city –
pocked concrete
& traffic carbon –
sky’s all
coppery night’s
coming up
I follow
the man-in-the-dress
along a lane
littered
with litter
where
Carlo & Zanzi
have signed
the sub-station
roll-a-door –
more than a tag –
a declaration –
white strokes
wide brush
no lights on,
no one home –
downstairs
short striped rows
neatly arranged,
more organised
than the library
I work in –
I stand before
my bookshelf –
wonder if
I’m a little crazy.
anyone on
the answer machine ?
up to the third floor
for a lean
& a musing –
what colour’s my posture ?
what colours my posture ?
here’s the view
from the balcony –
grey & darker grey
brick wall office
windows computer
screens & tv screens
nearly always on
an office cleaner’s
smoky silhouette
gently inverting
wastepaper bins
under large
cibachrome photos
of American
stars
look skywards
imagining –
every passenger
has taken
the holding pattern
to heart
I should
show some vim! –
drive the car
somewhere,
walk into Chinatown,
loop the city
on the mono-rail,
decipher
an ignoble idea,
cook dinner –
toss
the colander of penne,
careful
not to steam
the B. Smith
& B. Holliday records
stacked
on the dish drainer –
all washed up
‘n’ ready
to spin.
From: 50-50
In Ultimo
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