flight
tiger
airways sits on the runway beside us
rex
thunders past, lifts, banks to the right, and is swallowed in the clouds
we follow
the
turbulence knocks these words around
(don't
forget the pills)
we lift
at last, up, through the weather and the smog from the fires
- -
bondi
town hall
to bondi junction, bus to the beach
crammed
with young backpackers. tanned / t
shirts / thongs
up and
over, slope down the famous scoop of the beach
the
baths, cold salt water
gold sand
sweeps the floor of the pool
read, on
the return train, drink a small white tea
the
harbour bridge in the distance:
sentinel,
flags waving, remembrance
(tomorrow
is australia day)
- -
fright (i)
neil
gaiman, the city recital hall, angel place
where the
birds sing in empty cages, we shuffle past and enter
he reads
from the ocean at the end of the lane
of
witches, a dead cat, suicide in a small white car
found
down a country lane, mud caked around the exhaust and hose
of an
ordinary blue blanket draped over the corpse
I panic,
sitting on the mezzanine floor,
the rail,
the drop
makes me dizzy
the
closeness - and - the distance
a string
quartet joins him on stage, a beautiful rendition of a black day
(Australia
Day)
- -
fright (ii)
frances
bacon, 5 decades at the castle on the hill
photos of
his studio, 1988
an
attractive woman next to me laughs
'he
didn't tidy his desk up did he? it's amazing!'
bacon on
the wall:
'I feel
at home here in this chaos because chaos suggests images'
(and art,
nails me to life)
what
frightened me when I was younger,
breathes
life into me now
detail:
