Howling

The woman next door is howling with pain.

It is 3 in the morning.

Clearly she is doing it harder than me.

I went in ten days ago

with a high fever

and within 24 hours my frail craft

had sailed off into the South Pole

where I was hit with pneumonia

and racked with pain.

It was Scott of the Antarctic meets ‘The Thing’.

I’m in calmer waters now.

Five days with minor ailments.

They’ve brought me into dock.

Going home today.

*pic courtesy of pinterest

The Stan Laurel Syndrome

Stan Laurel Syndrome.

At the Blood Clinic I got a call

from my daughter

to give mum a birthday wish

and to please clear up the nice mess

I’d got her into,

I am always putting my foot in things.

It’s a gift.

Life.

One pothole after another.

*pic courtesy of pinterest

Mystic Mauve

Mystic Mauve.

I’m eight miles high again, sweet Jesus

branded on my feet

been smoking that purple rain again

though I have no one to meet

in the jingle jangle morning

mauve shadows are forming

& I’m running out of time

still tryin’ to catch the wind, sweet Mary

still one toke over the line

  • pic coutesy of pinterest; erinhanson.com

On Golden Staph

Golden Staph, Such a sweet, mellifluous name.

Its Latin counterpart, staphylococcus aureus,

just as euphonious, a name fit for a new species

of wildflower, an exotic dessert, or a freshly discovered

galaxy, glowing golden. at the edge of the universe;

even the bacilli under the eyes of an electron microscope

look like jolly mauve mushrooms clustered in a field

not the toxic toadstools they are.

*photo courtesy of CDC

The Roofs of Queenstown

The Roofs of Queenstown.

I can look all day at the metal roofs of Queenstown

like Jacob, wearing coats of many colors:

this one matte black like my Cruize that beat

the  Monaro at the lights ; that one on the corner rust red,

the colour you see striated on the tin roofs of settler cottages,

the one just built, Tomahawk with its brash of burnt umber

and my favourites, Blue Balm, and Winnipeg Fog,

the two beside the park that calm and soothe;

I raise my hat to the metal roofs of Queenstown,

stylish and stately hats worn on the heads of houses.

A Cheesy Death

I am watching a man dying on a jet plane

and I am contemplating eating another slice

of cheesecake.

I don’t know yet if the man dies

from clogged arteries, but he looks well fed

up there in real life and is a senior like me.

Now they rip off his shirt and work on his chest

pale and spotted as this cheesecake

I am lifting to my lips as Logan Roy

is pronounced dead.

Brutal

Brutal.

Yesterday was brutal.

It was my ‘Good Friday’,

my ‘Garden of Gethsemane’.

I thought of Jesus

up there on the cross

and upbraided myself for even

thinking of the comparison.

But my time on the throne

took some beating.

It was my ‘Calvary.’

They warned you about this,

that chemo does play havoc

with the excretory system

but this was brutal

absolutely brutal.

It was right that it happened on Good Friday.

the day of suffering.

Uh Oh

When the lights came on,

she strode straight up to us

from three seats along.

arms folded, brimstone eyes,

and said,

I want to take a good hard look

at you two

so I know never to sit by you

in a cinema

again !

*pic courtesy of pinterest

Coffee Shop: Quartet

Coffee Shop Quartet.

that quartet of oldies, cosseted in their cardigans,

smugly commiserating the homeless





and Wheatus raps rancidly over the radio

‘I’m just a teenage dirt-bag, baby’





Billy Collins on my screen reading his poem

about Goya’s chandelier hat

lighting up the gloom of his garret





and the fusspot next to me

picking at the frosted icing on his fruitcake

as though it were a scab

* pic courtesy of pinterest

			

My Lonsdale Cap

My Lonsdale Cap.

I found my Lonsdale cap.

It was scrunched between the passenger seat and door.

But it’s okay now.

I’ve pummelled out the dents.

I wish it were that easy to pummel out mine.

Life isn’t a car crash.

It’s a series of dings

and plain old wear and tear.

My car smooched a green fence post once

while doing a tight turn. Some of the green glows

through the matte grey like an early Spring.

It’s bright outside today, high UV reading.

I’m putting on my snazzy Lonsdale cap

so I don’t get sunburn

& my kiss curl doesn’t get blown around

too much.