Poems by Claire Gaskin

something needs expression
 
you can only be as honest
as you are self-aware
 
in the evening light
the purple of the morning glory
is more self-realised
 
the headlights light up
the cobwebs I am walking into

closed for private function
 
on the chalk-board of your face
 
we deliver what we promise
says the truck stuck in traffic
 
do the writing that kills you
she says
 
I am already dead
I was killed as a child
 
why would a dead person
bother filling out an A-frame
 
a mercenary
with six sessional teaching jobs
 
so many codes
the fear of urgency
will make me memorise
the code for the staff toilet door
 
bumper to bumper
one leaf falls
through all the others

I dreamt I was feeling vertigo on the stairs
 
a candle in a jar
it is on the table with the intake of breath
water beads like words before meanings
 
the piece does nothing for you, what have you done for it
I can see the future clearly; up close I need my glasses
a flame in a jar, me in your eyes
 
inevitability with its nose to a false tomorrow
with all your hunger you can start completely new
water beads on the glass
 
the dirty moon through the window
it is harder to get back the withheld
two of me in your eyes that see one
 
broken off bits of graffiti
parakeets dart from backyard wall to gum
words bead like water before falling
 
we leave our families, communities then look for a book club
a clean house does not mean you are not going to die
a flame away from the wind
water beads like meanings