Bins at the curb, I pausein a night of deep quietand catchthe thought that no-one else is here.Sleepy suburban street rarely parties;nights are seldom wild around here.Yet silence catches with surprise:no-one walking home from shops,no night-time joggers,no cars coming home.No feet sharing this curb with mine.And this weekly domestic act becomesa moment of strange resistance,aContinue reading “After Curfew”
Tag Archives: neighbour
And who is my neighbour? Part 3
Being a neighbour is fraught at any time, but in a time when suburbs, states and families are being isolated from one another, it is even harder. As an Australian, being part of an island nation has much impact on how we view our own place in the world, and in this time of remindingContinue reading “And who is my neighbour? Part 3”
In Our Father’s House
I wrote this poem yesterday for the third installment in a series of videos about being a neighbour. As I wrote, I was contemplating the prospect of my Melbourne suburb being the next to go into lockdown. Little did I know that today the whole city would be put back into lockdown. So I’m postingContinue reading “In Our Father’s House”
Free ebook and short film: “And who is my neighbour?”
If you have not yet read or bought your copy of Les Feuilles Mortes, you can get a taster of the collection in this free ebook, featuring some poems from Les Feuilles Mortes as well as some old poems and some brand new ones. You can also check out the short film I made toContinue reading “Free ebook and short film: “And who is my neighbour?””
And who is my neighbour?
Love, sensing Self flex muscles,Circumvents the question, takes a detourAlong a Jericho road,A thoroughfare often taken, seldom observed.Love stretches the story out,Beyond expectation, beyond our trust,Defeats its stock of righteous men,Then surprises with a foe.Love befriends the enemy,Gives face and heart to the hated one.Love helps us up the donkey’s back,Carries us safe, far fromContinue reading “And who is my neighbour?”
Love in the Time of Corona
At the shops and in the street,We look at faces, look at feet,Breathing quickly as we pass,Lest the germs should get to us.Seeking family on a screen,Craving you and us and we.What will each tomorrow bring?(Can we handle one more thing?)In this and each new instance,Can we love, safe from a distance?
You Will Not Fear
Hiding within my son’s clothes,it lay unseen until bedtime whenit scurried out from his sleeve, explaininghis tears through dinner andthe nick on his wrist spottedonly moments before.It was not the night to visit Emergency.Wind and rain buffeted the drive, asunidentified spider in jar beside me,I punctuated my frantic breaths withcomma prayers and apostrophe thoughtsof theContinue reading “You Will Not Fear”
Catechism 13
Can anyone keep the law of God perfectly? Since the fall, no mere human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly, but consistently breaks it in thought, word, and deed. (New City Catechism) All this being said – the neighbour languishes where thieves and Levites have left him. The SamaritanContinue reading “Catechism 13”
Catechism 12
What does God require in the ninth and tenth commandments? Ninth, that we do not lie or deceive, but speak the truth in love. Tenth, that we are content, not envying anyone or resenting what God has given them or us. (New City Catechism) The one beside you in the field, Continue reading “Catechism 12”
The Consolations of Writing 