Poems: Hail, Dusk, After the Eclipse
Matters climate and celestial are the subject of this week’s three Poet’s Corner contributions from Susan O’Brien.
Hail
As thunder rumbles
hailstones sluice
down
chutes of air
Seeds of ice
pelting the ground
hopping and skipping
lodging
in furrows of earth
Dusk
Against the fading light
the orb spider shuttles
stitching the horizon
to the evening star
The magpie family
one by one
play aerial vertigo
then fly to roost
Quietly, the sheep
head for higher ground
pulling choice morsels
as they go
The frog chorus tunes up
with background bug music
freely improvised
Small silent bats
flicker black
along the silver horizon
presaging midnight
Later
may come
the moon
Subscribe for updates
After the Eclipse
Shaking off
the shadow of the earth
the moon rides to the zenith of the sky
and stares full face
into the sun
The bright light
silvers cirrus cloud
and summons magpies out of sleep
Not the lone singer
of minor monthly moons
but the full
bewildered chorus
Susan O’Brien lives half of the time off the grid overlooking the gorge of the Finniss River on the Fleurieu Peninsula, the other half in Adelaide’s CBD. Since semi-retirement from medical practice as a GP with a particular interest in mental health, she has started to capture her poems on the page, writing about what the natural world may present. A particular associated delight is South Australia’s produce, its wines, olives and other Mediterranean fruits. Her poems have appeared in Friendly Street anthologies and she has read them at Coriole Vineyard’s Poets & Pizza events, and on 101.5 FM Radio Adelaide’s Gastronaut Program.