Looking after Uncle Bill's house

Dear Uncle Bill,

How is your holiday in Italy?

Things have been pretty normal here at your place.

Nothing to worry about really.

Fifi ate two lizards

and got bitten by a redback

after she dug up the neighbour’s strawberries.

She’s okay though.

Only a week at the vet’s.

Lightning struck the TV antenna

and shorted the computer, the DVD and the TV,

but the toaster wasn’t affected at all.

The floods (you heard about those?)

ruined the carpet

but Mum rescued most of the furniture

except the lounge suite.

Oh, and that big gum tree

that Mr Ross kept asking you to have cut down,

well, it finally gave way.

So much for the garage.

I almost forgot to mention your car

- it’s been off the road for so long now –

the motor finally decided to pack it in

just as Mum was reversing up the drive

and didn’t see the fish pond.

Otherwise things are pretty boring here.

I guess Europe is much more exciting,

although the bushfires are getting closer to the house now.

By the way, you did pay the insurance before you left,

didn’t you?

from the night beach

from the night beach we walked

up onto the moon-bright headland

stood on the cliff echoing surf

your black hair whipped my eyes

we held each other against the wind

and the storm blowing up from the south

back at the wharf

the black sky cracked open

huddling under pines

my body ached for you

in the downpour a car

had caught fire at traffic lights

and blazed furiously

Australia Day

We are the no soul people

in the not our land

Old stones in Galway

hide my once heart

and a curragh on an Aran beach

waits still to transport me

A day was all I spent there

and didn’t hear the Gaelic at all

I was born and bred in Sydney

closer to Kakadu than Connemarra

We are the ghosts

who gave them trinkets on the sand,

chased them from La Perouse

to oblivion and back again

I’ve been to Uluru

in a bus full of tourists

and call this my country

Divorce

night       you drive around this bend

that is strangely familiar

sea on the right

big hotels on the left

you look at the sea

moonlight on the water

you round the bend

and you’re high above it all

you hear a woman scream

a body shoots down at an angle

like a meteorite

crashing to earth

someone rushes over to her

you see her shape in the ground

you hesitate

then decide not to go over

Denial

Srebrenica did not fall.
The soldiers, being Christians,
saw the light,
chose not to rape and kill
but instead turned on their commanders
who worked as part-time butchers.

The men and boys
were only hiding in the forest
for a laugh
and now are gathering
for a game of football.