time immobilisations
i pull up,
wait in a line
of traffickers,
heading for workplaces
in the city
some distance
in time and effort
from here.
the lights change
and we move
though no one notices
their accelerator
take another punch
at the fuel gauge
and the subsequent
vehicle range.
i pull away from myself
sometimes
shaped in so many
different ways
since childhood −
unaware
of the exact number of times
i’ve fuelled up.
differently priced resemblances
people move on
voyager’s memory
travels alone
allegedly,
town to town
village to village
not as a hawker
nor of the door-to-door ministry
carries our burden,
lays it down
at each hamlet stopover
pushes it
Sisyphus style
up prominent local hills.
no one reads mythology −
not on this route
so no one knows why
it is done,
especially by a stranger.
eventually time moves. on.
people forget.
memory forgets.
perhaps this is all we know,
not knowing how to remember
wealth has noticed
i have no concerns.
not genuine
nothing that associates
with a letter of complaint
or face-to-face
knock down doors
front and centre
in your face
this is what
it has almost become,
confronting, medicated
lived experience.
no one listens
to words that struggle
with suburban
economics
recycling loneliness
battling an unworkable
household
budgetary constraint
contending
with silently rising
cost-of-living expenses.
no one wants to heat
an oven, bake anything
more than, first world problems.
nor a poor man’s poetry
disturbances
it’s morning
early
i’ve walked
relaxed,
for the day to ask.
me.
i reply i do
what i must do
even when my best
is often
not what fits in
or meshes
in a machine
a system
needing wheel spin
on a suburban back street
disturbing the middle
of the night.
unexplained.
equilibrium has not returned −
road scar still visible
don’t clothe me in
i drape
my clothing
over
the chair
beside my bed
sleep naked
between sheets
beneath water
in the morning
showering in
those touches
for bare skin
to remember −
factory air does not get me through the day
my momentum shift
look @ me
post-colonial
apologist
welcoming
modern articulation
celebrating
cultural certainty
adopting diversity
omitting mention
of declining awareness
in social reform
designed by
progressive movements
announcing
a face value climate reset
using language
for business sensitivity
to reduce adversity.
look @ me
in retirement
home maker, pod coffee,
rehearsals for open mic reading
in a dishevelled dress code.
the past haunting me while tomorrow moves out
