Jake Goetz
6
weatherboard’s blur
as we pass down Banks Creek Road
to find the river in Fernvale
a packet of Roast Chicken SHAPES
OAK Coca-Cola (registered trademark of
the United States)
and a polar bear crushed
between rocks along the bank
an excavator
DUMPS rocks
beside a dirt-bike track
as we walk along
the clear-green river
circles echoing
from the movement of fish
a rope swing mirrored
in the water
the water
mirrored in the trees
the trees in clouds
in water ripple
with 2 white maltese terriers
swimming
i undress
and sit in the shallows
undress you
my body
in the river
a body
Jake Goetz currently lives in Brisbane. His poetry has previously appeared in Plumwood Mountain, Cordite, Rabbit and Mascara amongst others, and one of his poems was recently shortlisted for Overland‘s Fair Australia Prize. He is the editor of Marrickville Pause (https://marrickvillepause.wordpress.com).