Joyce Parkes
In memory of Judith Wright
Persistent rain and wind gusts downed
branches, whole trees, electricity fees,
returned a wood fire and candlelight
to prominence. The fire, like passion,
brought warmth to the room. Candle-
light, like memory, gave enough light
to write on the windfalls of that winter
when her eyes became readers with
glasses. Resting on her ears, the glasses’
arms heard of drifting and dendrite
years — its leaves of envy, animosity,
acuity, amity, tapping on her window
on days of denouement or how so.
Is she looking at a windfall kept
for the fire, or seeing a winter’s wrap,
would she dwell on convex and
concave* lenses, place a magnifying
glass on the map staring at her
and write on tracts of eucalyptus
and pine trees, spinifex and ivy,
discover place and pith?
*From the poem Some Words by Judith Wright
Joyce Parkes is published in Cordite, Overland, Pen International, The Journal of the Australian Irish Heritage Association, Creatrix, The New England Review, Westerly, foam:e, Best Australian Poetry 2005 (UQP), Abridged, Axon and similarly committed literary journals, magazines and anthologies in Australia and in seven other countries. She writes to unravel what produces irony, disdain, audacity, empathy and reverie.
Leave a Reply