Patricia Sykes
North-facing, a sun pact
between flexible and rigid
the wall as back rest the begonia
as flexor, out-leaning, its eye on
the secateurs, their urge to prune
to severity’s edge impeded by
spiders, a canny spin and drape
of webbish life and death among
cane-stems pliable as fishing rods.
May butterflies escape the deadly
silk (favouritism is a separatist?)
The boronia thrives on, microbially
content to bloom when spurt says
time. Secateurs can learn to step
aside. Playing border guard
would end whatever’s going on
—arachnid, host, visa none
Patricia Sykes is a poet and librettist. Her collaborations with composer Liza Lim have been performed in Australia, the UK, Germany, Moscow, Paris and New York. She was Asialink writer in Residence, Malaysia 2006. Her most recent collection is Among the Gone of It, English/Chinese, Flying Island Books, 2017. A song cycle based on her collection The Abbotsord Mysteries is in preparation.