Out of Time, Out of Rhyme
He takes the road
down to the oleanders
pink plumped from
the showers of the night
before, soft
leaning tussocks matted
spike-gelled with
the morning dew,
a black beak-sharp
call from an overhead branch
surprises the
wood-hen in silent nest slumber,
even the cicadas
have turned down their tunes
to a whimsical
whistling
like an old man
through his teeth siffling,
breezes from the
gentle sea dunes, soft greet the palms.
Time puffs bob and
shudders in the wind
silent movie in
fast-forward daze
lights flicker and
dazzle
the bright
dandelion yellow fades
button-holed to
the soil.
And just beside, a
graveyard
of spent time
thistledown,
overshadowed by
the sister of wild rosemary —
her fragranced
hair
tossed with brine
of clammy air
showing her pale
roots
grown out over
time she’ll never catch again,
and so the dead
wood tendrils
of tea-tree myrtle
turn sideways
and weep.
The butter moth bobbles
over and around the old man’s
shoulder
hunched against the tides of limping
time,
ever older, one foot, then the other,
along a track where footsteps seldom
rhyme.
Jill
Forster
Jill Forster holds a PhD in educational psychology, previously a consultant,
university lecturer. Individual poems published in collations - chapbook (NSW
Government Arts Council), magazines , online (for the National
Library,Australia; Royal Botanic Gardens,Sydney); National Library of Congress,
U.S.A..Pandemonia and Sea-Salt Soliloquy were
published in Ariel’s Dream in 2020; Regarde was published
in the journal Brushstrokes, WA Poets Inc, 2023 as a Ros Spencer
competition winning poem.
— Published books include:
· Think about
Creativity’(Hawker Brownlow), 'Think about Mentoring’(Hawker Brownlow)
· Two poetry
books ‘Lullabies’(St Clair Press) and 'Honeyed Ramblings' http://www.originimprint.com/honeyed/about.html
· Memoir 'Mother of the Child’ originimprint.com/motherofthechild
— Completed
manuscript of a mosaic novel, collected and integrated vignettes
— Currently
writing short stories and collected poems.
—
Collaboration with artists about moments of connection
—
Collaboration as lyricist on a song for marginalised voices.
— Collaboration as lyricist for children’s musical