BIG ON THE

HAWKESBURY

MICHAEL BLACKBURN
 BIG ON THE
HAWKESBURY

Michael Blackburn

The Knives Forks And Spoons Press

Newton-le-Willows
Big On The Hawkesbury © Michael Blackburn, 2010

First published in the UK, 2010, by

The Knives Forks And Spoons Press
10 Avocet Close
Newton-le-Willows
Merseyside
WA12 9RE

ISBN 978-9565418-2-6

Cover photograph by Michael Blackburn.

Thanks to Bill & Lynne.

ORIGINS

straight off the Coromandel

to Mud Island
hostilities broke out again in the winter
near the farm of Henry Lamb
they came from the East to the West
two round lights, derailment
burnt down by an orphan aboriginal girl
Lamb and his wife had befriended
this is years before
a family boat explodes on the river
MONTANE

montane streams
the presence of mangrove
competing with native pressures
macroinvertebrates
undertake migration
prawns, crayfish
increasing eutrophication
freshwater flow impaired
TROUBLE IN PARADISE

two young men

setting a car on fire
in Kurrajong
a stolen Holden Commodore
off Comleroy Road
work out the cost
of Wednesday's bushfires
the situation
could change
SEVERED

severed arms float in the river

then a severed head found by fishermen
the arm of a 32 year old heavily tattooed
identified by fingerprints
the identity of the head not confirmed
BY CHANCE

by chance of coolness
in this so sunny clime
an army of bottles
hid in the leaves of the myrtle
like bellbirds
DANTE’S HOUSE OF HORRORS (AN EXTRACT)

I went in search of the event horizon

along the banks of the Hawkesbury,
walking with the ghost of a man who never existed.

Upstream the methane is visible;

it bubbles through the water
where miners strip the longwalls out.

Listen, said my companion,

the words of the dead decay and rise
combustible and rank.

Under Richmond Bridge we met the host,

a troupe of ragged players
staggering and puking in the nighttime breeze.

From out the shadows a one-eyed man

confronted me and said, I know your face,
you fought with me in the corps at Long Tan.

He flared in the dark like acetylene

but memory blew back like a blast of weed:
No, I said, my name is Myles, I was never there;

but you were the one who jumped from our taxi
in the darkness of London's East End,
you left us careening in our drunkenness.

Sober and alone you survived in your slippers,

made your way home and never spoke again
to any of your lost companions.

Thus rebuked his face like a doubted light sank back

on the pillow of shades beneath the bridge.
Oh, brave new world, my companion laughed,

that's left such creatures in its wake.

THIS BE MY SIGN

gourmet pies
burgers, chips
& devonshire tea
coffee, cakes
& pastries
my pies are real
read my sign
before the council
takes it down
BUSHFIRES

up here they do not reach us

but they tincture the air
and smudge the sundown

on the river's edge

I put my hand in water
for coolness
for reassurance that
I'm not really burning
like Carthage
burning
burning
KAFKA ON THE HAWKESBURY

‘from Hellerau to Leipzig with Pick

from Windsor to Richmond with Beck’

unhappy nights:
dogs barking
it’s impossible to live with her
how absurd
get up
hold on
have it all back
insomnia, headache
rain (I don’t regret it)
say nothing
LUCKY, LUCKY, LUCKY

Jane is on the treadmill

and the Lebanese are fighting on the beaches
the whining Howard has gone
the way of every saddle-thrasher
and the smell of baking carrot cake
is rising up the stairs
the bikers are battling at the airport
and the refugees are throwing their children overboard
the oceans are a patchwork
whose patches are out of sync
and short of basic nutrients
there’s beer in the fridge and we’re hoping
amnesia will transform us all
to lucky, lucky, lucky
now the Lebanese are no longer fighting on the beaches
and Jane is off the treadmill, resting her knee,
watching tv
HALF MAN

the sea eagle

in his tall tree
takes the high view
and the long view
up and down the river

to navigate these banks

you must be half man,
half-bird at least
or descend from two legs
to four
like a goat
NO MORE LIZARDS

there’s no more lizards

in the garden, she said
do you think they’ve moved next door?

our new ginger tom

was cleaning his soft face
as he lay on the kitchen floor

I said nothing
SUNNYSIDE MOMENT 1

fat in her pink pajamas and just out of bed

she’s whining my baby, oh my baby
as she hands us the leash for her alsatian
that’s leapt her fence into our strange garden
and has found a way over
by the time we get back
SUNNYSIDE MOMENT 2

a snap of Matt and Barry outside the house

tinnies in hand, waving the wad of notes
raked in from a win on the horses
Matt, who’d follow his liver into oblivion
and Barry who moved to Blacktown
and found that things were just the same
SUNNYSIDE MOMENT 3

a strong hard piss at fifty

first thing in the morning
banishing the need for a biopsy
makes him so happy
he could whistle
if only he could whistle
like his mates can
SUNNYSIDE MOMENT 4

I was on the bed ready naked, she said

when he stumbled in through the door
he looked at the bed
then he looked at the floor
then he looked at the window
then he shook his head
and walked right out, calling my name
he only came back when I screamed
Christ, he said, I didn’t see you there
ORTHOGRAPHIC ANNOTATIONS TO A BOOK OF AUSTRALIAN
POEMS

strategic referral to Romantic languages

and lyrical history
scarecrow
deconstruction of the esthetic of own poem

ii

getting inside esthetics

iii

joke
made of juniper berry
put himself deliberately in an avalanche of
sensory overload; books; TV; CDs etc.
ON THE FERRY

purple top over a white polo neck

on her left breast a small
heart of white stones
bound within another silver heart
the stones
shining white blue
as her breast rises and falls
asleep on the ferry
PERSONALS

At Penrith
Under new management
Bodyrub Fr $30
Full Service Fr $50

At St Mary’s
Asian slim busty sexy lady.
Beauty for best massage.

At Windsor
A touch of paradise.
Under new management & owner.
Annalise is back. New ladies.

I’m 18, busty & need XXX

Discreet fun. will send pics
& videos.

I’m a XXX addict! I’m hot

& dirty! I luv it day & nite.

I’m V Dirty and will do anything.

Looking for sum relief or good time?
SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Springwood
Colonial Motel
Happy Safe Eater
Look Out Pedestrians About
School Lane
Psychologists
We Sell For Less
Paget St
Merge Right
Hawkesbury Water Recycling Scheme
Stock Crossing
80
the Millennium
Left Lane
Buses Turning
Mirror Floor Sanding
Busk Poets
Truck Smash Repairs
Horse Feed
your happy place
Turn left at any time with care
Stockfeed
Universal Brotherhood Mission
Looking for that extra room?
Mushroom Compost
House floating
Office Fitouts
70
Notice Prosecuted
Form 2 Lanes
Start Toll Point
No Cash Booths
Red Light Camera
HERAKLEITUS ON THE HAWKESBURY

that young Greek was here

stepped into and out of it
numerous times
crossed back and forth
at Wiseman's Ferry
without saying a word
fished for perch in the cooler months
knocked back too much booze
every once too often
proved too ready with his fists
to be a philosopher, shouting
I may be Greek
but I don't speak wog
vanished one morning
leaving his bills and dirty clothes
and a notebook with only one entry
with regard to the river, it read,
that other Greek was wrong