Almanac Poetry: A trio of poems – Tommy Mallet

 

The Rattling Hush

 

 

A man sleeping opposite me

 

on the busy train

 

looks fascinating; about 60,

 

Serbian, maybe,

 

something Baltic,

 

yet has clearly Asian eyes,

 

and very British clothes.

 

 

I’m trying to piece him together,

 

heritage to backstory,

 

when he wakes, rubs his face,

 

and, with motion, becomes just

 

another commuter.

 

 

 

 

Of Such Silence

 

There’s those seconds,
away from the clamour and shout
of harvesting crews,
when my partner’s at work,
and I’ve killed all the blowies,
and the road works has taken morning smoko,
and Louie and his hungover mate have shuffled back
to the pub
to get their cars.

 

These sweetly aligned mercies
that make me want to go again,
leave through their stolen moment,
find another, quieter road,

 

without love.

 

With trees for neighbours,
long days of hard yakka,

 

an empty house,
that knows how to whisper.

 

Beer in hand I drift off in my seat,
as if I’ll be sleeping for some time,
wondering how many minutes,

 

or less, I have,
to hear the glorious pepper of various distant birds.

 

 

 

Frost

 

It’s -5 or -10, easy,
frost consumes the pre-morning.
Out on the porch,
there’s still just enough moon
to give me a view of the estuary
through the trees –
cold, black water.

 

I’m not looking forward to putting the
waders on.

 

Even my boots have that
glistening white sheen.

 

But, still open, unlaced
left where they fell,
each one provides more warmth,
than I can describe.

 

Not enough to pull Heaven
from the skies,
but certainly to sustain me
until the ute’s heater kicks in,

 

and the hurt in my fingers
subsides.

 

 

 

 

More poetry from Tommy Mallet can be read HERE

 

More poetry from Almanac Poetry can be read HERE

 

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