Three random poems

School holiday delight

The Cape of Storms howls in the yard, hammering
life into shutters, gutters, window panes.
Rapid-fire rain finds refuge under eaves,
where slow mould grows. A garden gate bangs
a steady rhythm. The girl curls up,
pulls the covers and watches trees dance on
walls in slate light from open curtains.
Mum makes morning music in the kitchen.
The girl’s nose twitches – fried bacon.
She looks at her stack of library treasures.
Today she can stay in bed with Nancy Drew and
other paperback pleasures. Fried eggs.
The dog stirs at her feet. Coffee and toast.
Mum carries in a tray. The storm howls.

Rock Haiku

It found me by the
road next to the beach, compelled
me to take it home.

Pockmarks and dimples
sprinkled like braille dots, telling
tales in secret code.

Maybe Marius
can read the story puckered
in a small rock face.

The marble streets of Valencia

Blood and bone colour patterns flow to the square
like veins, pumping life
to the heart of the old town.
Heels clackle and street sounds merge into white noise,
wrapping my morning thoughts over coffee.
A man begs for change from his cardboard
castle with luxury flooring.
Polished by soles and long dead masons,
it bejewels cathedralled plazas, softens
the stench of brothelled backstreets. While,
inland, caterpillar tracks and quarry dumps
pump dust, gouge mountains, kill hills,
count the cost of our underfoot art.
I drink my coffee, pay the bill, pay the
beggar, pay my dues, join the flow.