The Client

I did psychic readings at Sunday markets, 

approx. 1995 to late 2013.


A good, round face,

a smile,

brown hair cropped close

(just beginning to recede),

bright, round eyes,

direct gaze,
frankness,

ready understanding,

tears and laughter when

he speaks of his dead Mum.…

Good things,

but none explains —

nor even all together —

why I like him so much

and trust the liking.

Is it that indefinable, his energy?

Perhaps it’s the warmth,

or his insight,

or the way this kind, brave man
believes himself ordinary.



[Poem #103]

A double posting. This appeared at my Stones for the River blog yesterday. I realised that, with only a little expansion, it could become one of my Verse Portraits (with the same number of words as years of my age: 74 at present). As they are collected here, this has to be here too.

Writers' group: Nan

Nan is the wicked one

who surprises newcomers 

whenever she reads.

It's not that she uses 

naughty words, or blasphemes;

it's her thoughts that are naughty,

her soul that's irreverent.

(More truly reverent 

than many a churchgoer,

she likes the Lord — she's just

not in awe. Her humorous tales

are in fact moral fables.)

And she's the effortless 

prize-winner:
in competitions always 

commended at least.

Underneath it all,

she appreciates

loving-kindness.



[Poem #102]

Writers' group: Anne

I once told her

I thought she'd write something

important one day,

or at least that she could.

Did that make her fearful,

give her too much

to begin to live up to? 

For months after that 

she found no words to write.

We missed her acerbic wit.

But she kept coming,

listened as others read,

offered feedback.

Then sudden fantastic beings 

poured across her page, strangers

revealing themselves

to her fascinated scribe.



[Poem #101]

Writers' group: Helen

Her smile is always

the first thing I see

as she enters the room.

She exudes a cosy kindness that belies 

the cool, precise, administrative intellect.

Now she is all about family.

When she can't come, it's because

she is baby-sitting grandchildren

(not the only one to do that, but

the one who does it most often).

And she writes about family,

exploring generations past

whose lives enthral like an epic novel.



[Poem #100]

Writers' group: Hebe

She's like some cousin

I never knew I had.

Indeed, in my youth,

unsuspected cousins migrated

from her land to mine.

The Anglo-Indian connection

Mum kept secret.

Her father's Scottish complexion

allowed that, and my Dad's

English heritage.

The dark I longed for

died with Nana, she

more Indian than Anglo;

that warmth....

Hebe arrives –

childhood stories

that might have been mine

had the family stayed

there: not Tasmania.

And, that warmth.



[Poem #99]

Writers' group: Eddie

Insists he believes in nothing;

really believes that. Can argue

in support of this position.

Is not vehement against

other people's beliefs,

simply adamant

that he himself has none.

He likes hot climates,

dark-haired women,

and playing guitar.

Arthritis cut the music.

We older women, and Eddie, 

gather weekly to write,

learning each other,

building mateship.

A friend, meeting him, remarks,

'He is at ease with quiet.

That's rare in a man.'



[Poem #98]

Writers' group: Cheryl

How can I fit her into

seventy-three words?

She'll think I mean

her physical abundance,

but no. It's her bigness 

of spirit — 

                   ready

with tears or laughter,

vocal with passionate rage,

quick to hug me

if ever I'm sad.

She faced down death

with prayer

and black humour

stays alive

in green pastures

with a man she loves

beyond reason

(and sundry pets ditto)

as a writer

fears no confrontation ... 

remembers singing.



[Poem #97]

Writers' Group: Jean

Jean is new to the writing group.

She fits right in at once.

I'm glad to be joined by another 

poet. (It gets lonely.)

After her first session, 

she asks, 'Will you have me?'

Our question is, will she 

have us? Yes! She comes back.

Retired English teacher,

good proof-reader, witty, polite ...

When I read my widowhood poems

she understands exactly.

I see her getting every word,

feeling them. Oh, she knows!



[Poem #96]

Writers' Group: Bron

Bronwyn has a lover,

likes to say it, likes the word.

She likes to play with words —

sensual, musical, 

shaping stories;

likes to write of deserts

of foreign landscapes, and 

the interior space of the mind; 

by inference the heart.

Her own heart is with the sea

and hints of tribal secrets;

makes of them poems.

In a friend's house I admired 

a sketch, a graceful nude.

She told me, 'Bron did that.'



[Poem #95]

As I Drive Away

As I drive away from the park 

where I've been sitting 

looking at trees, and writing,

I see him squatting 

atop a wooden table 

in the gazebo near the pond.

He wears a hooded jacket;

a small back-pack clings

to his hunched shoulders.

It's only 4:15. Already

the cold hunkers down

and the slow mist comes in.

I wouldn't like to be homeless

tonight, I think, shivering

as I drive away.



[Poem #94]

Shared, years later, in Writers' Pantry #37  at Poets and Storytellers United.

Nursing Home: Jeanette

Tiny woman.
Soft, full hair
beige blonde.

Seated at our table,
at first glance
looks fifty.

I think she's used to
no conversation;
responds when we begin.

We ask how long
she's been here.
'Do you know,' she says,
'I think it's four months ...
I can't be certain.'

Her son works
in the kitchen.
She can see him
sometimes.

Used to live
by water, misses
her house ... voice
trails wistfully,
eyes grow distant.



[Poem #93]

Cross-posted from my poetry blog: The Passionate Crone, where it was submitted for dVerse Open Link Night #49

Nursing Home: Marjorie

1 Meeting

‘Another author!’
The Activities Officer
delightedly introduces
someone Andrew can talk to.
But it’s me who’s interested.

Marjorie, my mother’s name.
And her book, that she clutches
and displays, recounts
her childhood in India.
My mother was a child there too.

Still pretty, she’s also gracious:
beautiful English manners
from the last days of the Raj.
Like Mum again —
but this Marjorie
was legitimate Officer stock,
not a little Anglo-Indian girl.


2 Getting acquainted

She shows me a baby photo,
her family’s newest; can’t quite
explain where he fits.

And her son is a writer
(I know the name).
She describes his home,
which she visits. Sure enough,
on Mother’s Day she’s missing;
they must have taken her out.

She asks about my writing,
double-checks
that man’s my husband,
a writer too. I think
of giving her our books.
But I never see her read.




Cross-posted from my poetry blog The Passionate Crone, from whence it was submitted to Poetry Pantry #101 at Poets United.

[Poem #92]

Nursing Home: Keith

He’s thin and slighty stooped

but the grey hair’s thick and wavy

and he moves at normal speed —

except when he’s with her.

Holding her hand 

or arm around her

he leads her to meals

or out to the sunny garden.

She turns to him

a gentle, vacant face.

He greets us cheerily,

eyes full of comprehension.

We realise he lives here 

to be with her.

He looks happy. 

So does she.

Cross-posted from my poetry blog, The Passionate Crone, from whence it is submitted to Poetry Pantry #101 at Poets United. 

[Poem #91]

Nursing Home: Bobbi

Bobbi walks quickly 

along the corridors,

keeping to the edges.

One day she tells me,

whispering:

‘I hurt my hip. Now 

I have to keep walking 

or it seizes up.

I feel conspicuous

and embarrassed.’

She is slim

in her neat slacks

and cardigan,

sweet face framed

by a short pageboy.

Her eyes widen

a moment and I glimpse 

fear, want to hug her 

but will not intrude

on her frail dignity.



Cross-posted from my poetry blog, The Passionate Crone, from whence it is submitted to Poetry Pantry #101 at Poets United. 

[Poem #90]

Passing Stranger

‘Frankie don’t dance’
his T-shirt says
and I’m sorry
for anyone who so restricts
his own joy,
so afraid of release
he fends it off
before it starts to begin.

‘If I can’t dance
at the revolution,’
Emma Goldman is said
to have said to Lenin,
‘I won’t come.’
Now that I like!

Me, I ain’t got
rhythm, trip over
my feet, and yet
I love to swirl and tap.



[Poem #83]

The Girl from Brazil

(Market Client)

I did psychic readings at Sunday markets, 

approx. 1995 to late 2013. 


Soft, young,
excited by life.
I feel, empathic,
the suppressed fluttering
of breath wanting to surge.

A dentist in Brazil,
here she must study
again another year;
doesn’t complain, enjoys.

She longs for love.
I’m glad to see it coming
though not just yet.
First she will visit home.
'In March,' she agrees.

I see the large, warm family,
her brother’s new baby.
Smiling, she’s love
waiting to happen.




[Poem #82]

'Marijuana in the Mail'

Hates the press for this headline
and publishing her name:
'BASTARDS!'
Always felt above the law.
Stoned at the time, or drunk?

Pleaded guilty anyway
for trying to post it –
to Edinburgh.
'Don’t they have dope
in Scotland?' someone said.

She can’t stay free
by pleading the need
of her brain-damaged son.
He’s 18 now, and smart enough.
She does a runner,
leaving him home alone.

Oh, stay away!



[Poem #79]

Abused and Neglected

He is afraid. Always.
I don’t know if he knows
the always. He knows
the sometimes,
the worst, the most
immediate. He knows
he has no-one but himself
to bring himself up. Not me –
not often enough, no blood
connection, and old
like grandmother, though I try
mothering, in my blunt
and sometimes cranky
way (when I’m most alarmed).
19 already and nowhere
to go, still nowhere
for escape.



[Poem #78]

Schemer

She greets me in the shop
as we stand at the counter.
Startled, I respond too warmly.

She makes the cow eyes at me.
Pale, dishevelled, she’s lost
her sleekness along with her game.

(Some are still fooled, most stand
with her intended victim.)
I look away and place my order.

Later her man whom I’ve never met
sends me drunken emails. I feel
intense rage – his or mine?



[Poem #77]

The Girl Next Door

A pretty three-syllable name
I never heard before.
Wasn’t sure at first
if she was girl or boy
despite long hair –
breasts just beginning.

She spoke softly, looking down;
liked playing with our cats,
asked their names.
I’d meet her walking
on the beach like me;
we’d smile briefly.

The older sisters
and little brothers
were noisy, laughing.
She: big-eyed, serious.
We began having
conversations, then they left.



[Poem #74]