Poetry
Dawn Bruce

Do you Remember

chill of air stroking
our bare skin, scent of sea breeze

lingering on our lips,
edge of dried gum leaves
fingering our backs, legs, arms,

releasing zing-strong odour
of crushed bush ants?

Leaves crackled and snapped
as we entwined, trees stretched

and moaned long white trunks
up to the canopy of midnight-blue.
Moonlight moved across us,
in a mother-of-pearl lustre,

phantasmal.

Our movements on the bush floor,

surreal.

Do you remember
or have I dreamt it?

Volcano

Exciting to be near
but living with you
my days are dark, air is thick,
life grey ash.

Your scalding words
burn, leave scars from flow
of countless arguments.

I must gather my belongings,
travel far away,
for I cannot forecast
your next eruption

when rocks you hurl
may be too huge, too many,
and cause an avalanche
that will completely crush me.

Face at the Window

Exiled from the present
she lives her days tight
in memories,
claws back every hurt,
mean deed, bruise and whisper,
weaves them into a comfort blanket
to keep out cold indifference.

Her house develops a lean,
diminished, but surrounded
by a garden dreaming.
Light ghosts through tangled branches,
past windowpanes, across floors, up walls
silently as the change of days
in her unchanging life.

“I am an Australian poet, living in Sydney. My poems have been widely published in literary journals, magazines, newspapers and anthologies throughout Australia. My first book of poetry, Stinging the Silence, was published by Ginninderra Press in November 2002. When asked why I write poetry, I answer with, ‘As a frustrated artist, catching the echoes in words leaves my painterly side satisfied.'” E-mail: somersetpoets[at]ozemail.com.au.