haze (2009)

Forecast for Melbourne, February 17, 2009:
31 degrees, smoke
_____________– Bureau of Meteorology

1.

clouded suburbs

smoke haze from the fires

recall Black Saturday_______________crush of heat

& refuge in numb privacy

justify a cigarette, bottle, joint, TV…
______________________network news lunging for pathos


2.

veins of light through the blinds

her body whispers in the linen

don’t want to say but will
________________ (so much energy fed to honesty)

animating these lips, alone

“why put away things you know you’ll take out again?”

rehearsing the encounter,
_______________trying it on the tongue

“why leave things lying around
_____________when they can be taken out when needed?”

but notice how everything fits?
_______________meditation brings cadence

& in the dreaming-throat
______________ignites small fires

how this static zone of afternoon
______________________shadowless
______________________________recurs over & over


3.

the recognition

beneath the as-normal laughter
______________fixing drinks inside airconned apartment

haze will lift

heat subside

quarrel resume

anicca