Mum Possum In The Roof, After

The public radio's experimental,
full of aching sounds
that haunt the kitchen;
the bray of youth leaves us older,
disinclined to work today,
intent on riddles of meaning:
how did her child get in here each night,
where's the entry point for ants?
A little talc on the benchtops
and they're adrift, crazed,
out of the radar's loop
-the way wisdom slides past us
in a foreign phraseology:
the sixteen beat (tala) of tablas,
the fumes from the the truck
here for the bin we didn't curb;
the heavy animal stink
that precedes the ugly hiss you
can just imagine belonging to
some vast creature
out for revenge,
clawed beyond belief.


Adelaide 2000