Every poem should have a welcome mat.
to let the reader know their little house of words
is warm and inviting; is well kept,
a door bell that chimes rich and melodious,
perhaps a garden gnome suggesting fun, quirkiness
and a bird bath out the front, full to the brim,
where yellow-shouldered honey eaters frolic,
to suggest plenty
Where’s Uncle Midge? I asked
one sunny afternoon.
He’s off with the fairies again, aunty said
Then quickly changed the topic.
Off with the fairies? How did aunty know?
Did he leave a note saying he’d be back
By so and so a time?
It was hard to imagine Uncle frolicking with the fairies
if that is what
One does when one is ‘off with them’.
He seemed too weighty and substantial for that.
And anyway where was he off to?
Where does one go when one is ‘off with the fairies’?
I looked out the lounge room window out
To the backyard where uncle often used to wander
But there was nothing — only a pair
Of garden gnomes who seemed to be smiling
As if they had seen something.
John Malone 