for Free Verse Weekend

I bought the train ticket
started smiling
smiled to myself
smiled at the cleaners waiting
to board our carriage
as we disembarked
smiled at the woman
in an olive green sari
resting on a street bench
downhill from the station
before the river

When I smiled
the others looked uncertain
Do I know her?
Have I forgotten her name?
Where have I met her before?
Is she on a happy drug?

I walked a long way smiling
arrived at Langhams
south of the Yarra
met my son who shouted
me dinner.  
Wouldn't you be happy?
Can I share this feast
with you? Come, let us
celebrate merely being alive!

A River of Stones 31. Waiting for the Airport Bus

So many people rush around
before dawn. The darkness
flaps away, in no hurry.

A River of Stones 30. Unwritten Records

Sulphur-crested cockatoos
like a book full of torn
blank white pages,rise
on a thermal above a grove
of farm trees.
I make a mental note.

A River of Stones 29. Opportunist

a lone sparrow
forages along the car's
front grille - how many locusts
might be caught here?

A River of Stones 28. Her Scarecrow

As we skirt around washaways
and exclaim at uprooted trees,
flattened reeds, the loudness
of running water still a foot deep
on the causeway, she tells me
how she cleaned out the shed
assembled a scarecrow out of
wooden remnants of antique
furniture. "It will have swinging
legs! And arms!" says her
daughter. With all the rain we've
had, he will be busy, guarding
a runaway garden, vegetables
flourishing while the rivers clean
dirty beds, slept in too long.

A River of Stones 27. Work

the butterfly, as big as
the back of my fist
explores my fernery
its flapping loud enough
to scare off prey

A River of Stones - 26. Australia Day Party Vignette

In Kings Domain
a princely singer
and choir thank us,
thank our country
for allowing them
to live lives they love.
Teary eyes thank them
for this soaring, hearty
song of gratitude.