Tuesday poem: Almost pastoral, and a reading
April 29, 2013
Almost pastoral
Looking past the one long leg of tarmac spider, head in Sydney,
refusing to see her iPod plugged ears, hear tart mozzie hums,
or feel insinuating throb of pocket phone, nudging like a bull
against fabric seclusion, I spread blanket on bleached ground.
I closed eyes, and opened them, misting the scene in moisture.
I applied numbing cream to mounds of anted bites, reddening.
Wished away health filled salad, replaced carrot crunch with Corot,
cocky squawk with cagey flute. Then checking watch, I turned to go.
P.S. Cottier
A brand new poem as I enter a very busy week. Tomorrow night (Wednesday), at 7.30, I’m reading at Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest, along with Charlotte Clutterbuck and Geoff Page. Do come along if you’re in Canberra. There’s an entry fee, which includes wine and snacks. It is $10, and $7 concession. Then there will be excellent books for sale, so don’t forget to buy one of them, if you are able.
A podcast of three of my poems is now available at the Blemish Books site. If you like what you hear, the book can be ordered from the very same site.
I have had a poem called ‘A question for Jane’ published at the Eureka Street blog: http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=36017 . The Jane in question had the surname of Austen, so have a look if you have time, and answer the question for yourself.
For other poems, please press this link. The Tuesday Poets are a group who are many and varied, and seemingly moulting:
PS Cottier 
Enjoyed 🙂
Thanks!
The narrator sounds sad…is it a goodbye to a daughter? Good luck with the reading. 🙂
I think of the voice of the poem as someone who wants to be in a rural French idyll, and finds themselves very much in an Australian setting. The woman is a potential lover.
Thanks for your wishes about the reading. It was last night and went really well. I may post some photos but I am exhausted beyond belief, having been working in on sense or another pretty intensely for quite a while.
Although I have reached a useful stage of exhaustion where poems have taken over and are almost writing themselves. I like that!
Thanks for commenting Helen, and I hope to catch up on people’s blogs soon.