Celestial mechanics stars tap out a Morse code as if to
let us know that we are not alone in our celestial dome o
Cepheid seraphim I trace your skeleton my fingers score
the run from dirt to distant sun and I kid-skin glove my
sight such tactile stalactites no tacit static bites your
finite pilot lights solar driven squalls the breath peels
back and falls makes atoms of us all the savage and the
small
Caradoc it’s fey down there where the dirt slumps in
mid-speech shoulders held as if to half ward off the oak
and the beech where in the valley crease the water
draws the mountains steadily downwards and on curls
the path past where Elly turned her car past where the
hillside hides scars of a blast that the earth shrugged off
where I catch glimpses of Lil forests of glass empires of
spider’s silk against the dappled milk of an afternoon that
dawned itself into the dusk and the engine chokes but it
does what it must it coughs and croaks its way through
the gravel and the dust and I give no quarter to the ache
inside the dogs will lick it clean when I arrive my heart
the book you write the song you sing the jolt that lifts that
sunken ship on the cusp of homecoming
Shell heading downtown looking round high before I’ve
even pressed the day to my lips I taste time gone by
when my heart was a red royal bird on high you were
never too keen on the pre-paid fare just toss a coin see if
you make it but miss the bus let the cars go past mess it
up and there might be something bigger than you and
me turn left at the traffic lights hit my street old piss
stained laneway lies in wait how many times did we sit in
the shell of your car trying to cling to the thing that had
bought us this far now we’ve dissolved to pen on paper
as we kowtow to the cold narrator of the past let’s
reminisce this history into its box and maybe we can see
if there’s something bigger than you and me they say
wisdom comes from mistakes and strength from
heartache you know I’d make do with just being weak
and dumb tiptoe round trials of fire lay low keep a lower
profile but all the while a voice says you’re in it for the
long run is there something bigger than you and me I’m
waiting for something bigger than you and me
So this is what it feels like the skyline is sulking it
scowls as it sinks and the lights in the houses tentatively
blink on and evening calls for its happy hour drink and
I’m ok if I don’t think the streets they all shudder as if
their nerves are shot and the trees hunch up glumly and
deal with their lot while the chimneys check that the
moon’s in its spot and I’m ok until I’m not and this is the
end of our beautiful stalemate picture perfect grief on a
silver plate and oh my heart night chases its tail til it trips
into day and I wake up bewildered with no hand to play
but there’s no point keeping the morning at bay cos I’m
ok when I’m ok and daylight outside paints a Picasso
fake and the air smells of metal and burnt butter cake
and the blue of the sky is more than I can take but I’m ok
if I don’t break but oh my heart my heartache
About Sydney I’m sorry I condemned your kitchen I’m
sorry I said you were wrong I’m sorry for talking when I
should have been listening to the words of the song and
I’m sorry for filling the silence and for rearranging the
space sorry that sometimes I took the light out of your
eyes and the smile off your face but I’m not sorry I let
myself fall and I’m not sorry that you and I happened at
all I’m sorry for being so certain I’m sorry I wasn’t the
one I’m sorry that for all the words that were spoken
nothing was able to be done and I’m sorry the blow was
a one person show and the audience left in tears and I’m
so sorry about Sydney that will stay with me for years
Grünheide Rag nonsense words…
Here’s the thing oh look hey it’s me tripping over the
scenery I’m only like that when you’re near and the
question isn’t why’d you come but why’d you come and
then go back home without making anything to me clear
so the bags are packed that future’s wrapped and ready
to be thrown into the deepest ocean I can find cos I can’t
see how you can be the way you say you are and me be
here so far from any peace of mind oh no no no I’m not
going through this war again oh no no no I’m not going
through this door again oh look here’s my truth stomping
over my patience like a big black boot over the years I’ve
worn the heels clean through cos I love you and god it
hurts and you coming here’s just made it worse cos you
left me with no idea of what to do is that the way you
want to play it a couple more years til you can say it just
seeing how it goes isn’t it worth a little sweat a little
work a risky bet cos here’s the thing I’m right and you’re
wrong oh no no no I’m not going through this war again
oh no no no I’m not going through this door again
Cloudberries first rain since autumn this veil across my
eyes soft silhouettes like baby’s breaths fill the skies
must have been pressed on late last night like berries
beneath the feet as we slumbered on the wonder of
dawn quite unknown in our sleep different forms
accumulate cathedrals of cotton wool as we lie beneath
every breath that we breath caught up in its pull I cannot
count the times I’ve raised my eyes to search for
something not within and the landscape’s shifted the
sky’s opened up and I have fallen in and in the waking
hours the rain comes down as the sky yawns and we all
fall through into this bowl of blue and sail into the dawn
drought be gone let the cloudberries rest on your tongue
Absolute belief I woke up today with the absolute belief
that you were going to come and visit me thought of it as
I went to work and wondered what time your plane would
arrive they usually touch down before nine maybe you
flew to Frankfurt first and then you caught a train here or
maybe you got the afternoon flight and you’ll later
appear but I’m sure you’re near don’t keep me waiting
too long don’t prove me wrong my dear spring is in the
seasons have stripped the winter back and word on the
street is that love is the new black and here in my sunkissed
cave I’m trying to behave as if my skin’s not
falling off as I wait for the day to call my bluff and maybe
I will turn my head and I will see your outline or maybe I
won’t realise until I hear the bell chime sunlight hits trips
me from my thrall I wake to find that you’re not here at all
and as the minutes turn to months and then to years I
shift my weight shake my head it’s done it’s gone move
on you’re not going to get the end you wanted but what if
it’s just security and you’re stuck in customs or maybe
you did the usual and you missed the bus here but never
fear they come every fifteen minutes my dear tonight I
want to take my rest with my head upon your chest I can
almost see you there I can almost feel you this isn’t
madness sprung from grief or denial that speaks this is
absolute belief
Und wie strange birds in my tree eyes bright as
marzipan questions like twigs in their beaks for me both
knowing and inquisitive in silence I take what they give
for a chance that each memory relived might be set free
all the people go slow the wind rewinds its show and the
world is papered in snow as far as the eye can see und
wie strange signs on my hands the marks on the palm
like a brand must be where the love began to become a
fist notching my arrows in vain the mountain range too
far away sometimes you can have the best aim and still
miss but then the unforseen becomes skin the silence
seduces the din and the worldly eclipses the dream and
the joy floods in like the sea und wie
As I woke up this morning as I woke up this morning I
thought of you my friend oh enemy of mine as I took my
first awake breath I recalled the way that your words
would fall I recalled the way that the light would trace
your face I recalled the smell of your hair and your fall from
grace I recalled how life goes on and on and as I woke
up this morning I thought of you my friend what enemy is
mine as I took my first wide open look at the world I
heard a shift in the steel of my certitude I disturbed the
holed up image I held of you I disturbed the stability in
shutting you out from my world I heard my heart letting
go which is why I’m picking up the phone
