Balcony

Dusk. The freeway's haze; Green Australian gum trees Soak up the spectrum. Sparrows in the elms: Fans dressed for a football match Scale autumn's ladder. Australian icon: Southern Cross windmill, rusted By the passing cars. Siamese cats scan The corrugated iron Roof for a sparrow. Old kiln-works chimney, You burn the earth into walls Made of white moon bricks. Red light makes silence. A tram turns under the moon. Green light makes more noise. TV antenna picking up beams like a glass filled with week-old wine. When the rosellas fly Over my apartment block, I love the country. An art gallery. A Mercedes parked outside. I'm missing something. A gigantic moon Drowns out the traffic's tide. Hear my balcony. First published in Ginyu (Troubadour), Japan, 2004.

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