the last day (2007)

it was just one of those things where a bunch of people think the same thing at the same time probably while working at shitty jobs or playing the starved artist somehow scraping by

like us we were sitting in vacant lots mid-city with drum-fires the smoke curling south & bumming cigs off passersby taking turns to snatch at sleep on shipwrecked couches flaky cats screeching round our feet

& just when we were on a roll passing the sickly port thinking “nowhere will ever be safer than here” four windows appear in the sky & open up the weather turning inside out clouds flipping over

and the chemical weather shopped til it dropped sucking every two-bit bargain in sight the sky stretched like a swollen eye & we tried outstaring it praying for a blink gazing at derelict heavens mesmerised like children mainlining their first Christmas

“the sky holds what kind of right?” I remember asking whoever was listening what right to smoke us out of the hole we were in oh no question we were holed but fuck me & crank the Starship Humanity the sky or whoever was cloaked in it really went to town dinner suit opera tickets & all

combusting the unworthy & all the usual biblical stuff flies dropping like um flies emergency service choppers somersaulting like plastic bags a plague of dead monkeys pissing in my hair

this wasn’t our favourite God surfing in with magic drum on his keychain that inspires flowers to change colour this was a being from one of those other humourless galaxies where no really means no

& there I was muttering what do you want, being, you want to pretty up the landscape huh & I’m coaching myself through it thinking just stay with it & man the controls brave captain

while making cute googoo gaga noises & an old adage from TV backs through my mind “go in the direction of your fear” they used to say that at the end of every show

this the final episode & if my dreams ever walk again you will arrive around dusk our hidden studio by the river with our remaining stash of light together taking one last look

hands / office (2006)

this is Modern Art: / motivational / poster of the pyramids captioned ‘Achievement’ / the sky absent, savagely cropped / (how to measure achievement when the sky is absent?)

*

across the open plan / cool paint-tones emit calm / it’s “too nice a day” / sun nothing but hindrance / wimp blinds / glare-stained monitors / staff listless / doing time behind / panes of heat / call logged re: the aircon / drip workflow / has sprung a lake

*

Bruce, who loves Friday drinks / is not alone / after-work trains become sparsely passengered / & this is (isn’t this?) / who ‘you’ are today / a drowner / “Gabe ‘n’ me are hitting the Deep End after work…” / your looks / your talent / you could be / “… anyone else?”

*

cubicles, ‘pods’ / officespace bouncing / with sweet soda FM / looped playlist / X-Factor? No, I don't / I am an island / correction: a shoal / mousy Support Analyst / acned / phonecall evader / in shooting out the apartment / this morning, toast in hand / neglected to carry enough / defeat music / to see out the day

*

aforementioned Bruce is seasoned / old hand, old hands / wandering / knows where to sit, stand / for best access / the bar, ripe officegirls / sloshed against a washroom wall / No sorry I’m feeling / a little married / tonight

*

dead links on the intranet / What’s the name, the girl from Accounts / the off-tap? / I’ll copy you in / something wicked this way / brushed by tiesilk / Are you hitting on / we’ll put it to the bored / bang on about / the ethics, if you like / “These aren’t the right minutes!” / I smell a / Steering Committee / duty-free cologne / & bulk-price handwash

*

two weeks pass / Bruce gets taken out / to lunch at the brasserie / I forget, what’s the name of that swank-shack on Bourke? / clears his desk upon return / then escorted by security / heaving boxes labeled ‘Fragile’ / out the revolving doors / a chance slap of wind / scattering flock / of white papers / to blot the gutter rain


A slightly different version of this poem was published in [untitled], September 2009.

Below: office 'motivational' poster that inspired this poem.