Tim Heffernan
(for samar)
today
there is a retirement expo
at kembla grange
but only yesterday
i learned that you had gone
too far
in my garden
are some plants i am trying
to keep alive
i thought the native pea
was dead in its pot
but there are a few
new shoots
and the transplanted
tree fern still has
promise in an
uncurling frond
i am sorry that
i could not
sustain
your watering
Tim Heffernan was awarded the 2016 joanne burns prize for his prose poem ‘barunga conversations’ and shortlisted in 2015 for ‘butterflies in iraq’. He is co-editor of Verity La’s, ‘Clozapine Clinic – The Frater Project.’ Tim has enjoyed exploring ‘mad poetry’ both in print and as spoken word at recent Queensland and Wollongong Writers Festivals.