Ian C. Smith
Ma Johns
I slick down my hair leave at quarter to
eight grab my Gladstone bag set off down
the desolate driveway coastal sand past
the kero drum letterbox where I left
a dead copperhead to scare the mailman
it supposedly writhing for twenty
-four hours I kick through eucalyptus heat
dust flies to Ernie Hough’s lonely crossroads
store wait for Mr Phillips driving his
Bedford from Cranbourne the Lord girl who’ll die
in a wreck Sheila Savage looking good
Catholics staring I slouch aboard join more
savages Bob Marshall who’ll play back flank
for the Swans with a squinty eye damage
his kidneys gets on like a hero
when we arrive in Frankston I have a
quick drag of the quirly I have rolled at
the bus stop then skip assembly music
first up with Old Ruth who is nice but can’t
control us then we have Col Baker who
gives the cuts harder than any despot
throughout history and we have Ma Johns for
art these luminous prints she shows colour
shock jump-starts my heart silencing me.
eight grab my Gladstone bag set off down
the desolate driveway coastal sand past
the kero drum letterbox where I left
a dead copperhead to scare the mailman
it supposedly writhing for twenty
-four hours I kick through eucalyptus heat
dust flies to Ernie Hough’s lonely crossroads
store wait for Mr Phillips driving his
Bedford from Cranbourne the Lord girl who’ll die
in a wreck Sheila Savage looking good
Catholics staring I slouch aboard join more
savages Bob Marshall who’ll play back flank
for the Swans with a squinty eye damage
his kidneys gets on like a hero
when we arrive in Frankston I have a
quick drag of the quirly I have rolled at
the bus stop then skip assembly music
first up with Old Ruth who is nice but can’t
control us then we have Col Baker who
gives the cuts harder than any despot
throughout history and we have Ma Johns for
art these luminous prints she shows colour
shock jump-starts my heart silencing me.
Ian C Smith lives in the East Gippsland area of Australia with his wife and four sons. His poetry collections, These Fugitive Days and This is Serious are both published by Ginninderra Press. He has been published widely and has a poem in Best Australian Poems 2004.
Page(s) 73
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