I was expected to be productive
whilst in my mother's womb
that's why I was born bare
like an open cheque
out of a yawning debt
I discovered myself in far-flung arms
of a pink empire
& fed on dates
my first red road surfaced with tar
& sharp stones
my feet ordered into their coffins
two big kids swung their horizon
& tripped me with numbers
I learned that stars had to be earned
exploring with stories
every escape from my childhood
adults lay cast on their backs
their dawns wet & heavy
hand-sheared by clocks
there was big money in stripping
for girls with eyes like lambs
boys killed overtime on frozen chains
spent blood-money on weekend meat markets
I crushed purple grapes on her white breast
& she dropped me
I was told to find salvation in education
regurgitated facts were forced down my throat
I was told that one day
this would enable me to fly
with letters after my name
I began writing my name on a fading ribbon
tied round a tense present
when I asked too many questions
I was singled out
as a man without character
naturally, I became a poet
stepping on cracks
which appeared between night & day
I espoused free love with my pickpocket heart
that's how I ended up married young
chained to a lawn-mower like a hooded raptor
mum asked if I had to get married
I said no
but she's pregnant
I fell in love so earnestly
that I fell in lust with somebody else
melting guilt & blocks of ice
doors opened outwards
I woke up stunned from dreams of corridors
so I cut off my shadow
& came out only at night
after years of looking into rivers
every time I found myself in front of a mirror
it cut off my hair
I spent years in an office
& wrote one short poem
never to be printed on a desk calendar
'long boxed-in days
long box
cut short
his holidays'
I finally conquered dyslexia
they said I was dumb
so I became a bum
I stuck out my thumb
& popped towns like bubbles
as naive as peace
I swapped peace signs
with truckloads of soldiers
exploding into red dust
detonated by an iron sun
after forty years of careful preparation
I invaded tasmania
to join well-known pinkoes
disguised with zinc cream
under a green umbrella
we were part of a fifth column
a living tree
before christ became buddha
being capable of mature decisions at last
we found a huon pine & hid it
five thousands years / ring by ring
and we're still not awake up to ourselves
this blind bone glare of sex
wind carving mountain
mountain playing wind
gateways to antarctica
stretched by elastic light
aurora australia
pulsating crowds
raising heaven
memory's path packed hard
on walking mountain
I fought
each word print
across a blank white page
trying to reach irretrievable love
I discovered each crevasse
each soft touch fell
with a weight equal to mortality
may as well try to knit water
with needles of ice
with a yarn spun from wind
shafts of light
taking us efforlessly up
though floors of being & becoming