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we’ll always be running in the hail

local boys a-slouch like bus shelters

let’s make a vow achieve a strained

expression & watch the meeting collapse

like a car in the bay hustler of this overland

plane else the cold of my pie: vodka on

an empty stomach to several boastful

threats you know whatever shared

contact detail suggests close attention

the way you prod and caress the front seat

gaze fixed pointedly the way you bite

nibble show off a stance of ‘quizzical’

(taxi aggression mooted) a bent spine

under candlelight & you’re my redgum

rhinoceros: ‘hello’ then say nothing into

a submissive hug stage-left we alter

the red-shift afterwards to form a pleasing

grin to bring culture to me failing that words:

her right leg brought upward into an

overpowering straddle the glint of dark

blue after such a fall so pretty so sunrise …

rope climbs the neck theatrics in the

embarrassment of dance worse material

in the bank i wonder lunch is an awkward

token of thought we all get more

photogenic in the wind & it was nothing

boarding pass as bookmark as over-proof life

 

Derek Motion

Derek Motion lives in Narrandera where he writes and works as an Arts Development Officer. He was the winner of the 2009 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize; his first collection lollyology was published in 2012.

More by Derek Motion ›

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