Almanac Poetry: ‘Wine Belly’ – Tommy Mallet
Wine Belly
A day’s work gone without grub,
the neighbour’s wine doesn’t look right in my muddy paw,
but here it is,
warming,
filling my skull,
gone, then replaced with more.
Eventually, “All men are liars!” I say, for no other reason
than parting noise,
staggering out into the now dark,
where it’s somewhere between -3 or -10,
falling sideways across the mountain,
frozen grass and wallaby shit
crunching underfoot,
everything lit silver by a tight-arsed winter moon.
“Spare me some warmth,” I croon, but it
won’t buy in.
The world is so still, a photo of night,
save for me,
still far from home,
fumbling through a clearing, shouting obscenities
that echo, both loud and soft,
down through gullies everywhere,
into cliffs,
unmoving trees,
back to me, multiplied,
until I’m a momentary army, of
swear words and love,
agreeing with myself
about enormity
and causes without cause.
More from Tommy Mallet HERE
The Tigers (Covid) Almanac 2020 will be published in the coming weeks. It will have all the usual features – a game by game account of the Tigers season – and will also include some of the best Almanac writing from the Covid winter. Pre-order right now HERE
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Yes, Tommy. Yes.