Mute

Gippsland, Victoria

There is a park
two blocks down
with a wooden
seat, under oak
branch – can we
meet there?

Let us not
assail ourselves
with talk or feelings
or history –

A long time ago
we sat on the beach
at Venus Bay just
watching the swell
and breathing the salt –
It was good then,
wasn’t it?

Ms Houdini

for Colleen

In the meantime I will wait
faithful and eager to find
new pathways to your heart
passing the key on my tongue
so that none can see or sense
the secret of our endeavours
or the animal love that ripens
making me warm in hope
as you lie below in cold waters
opening dark locks with deft fingers –
mine in the yellow of next morning
strident and smelling of love.

Peter Roberts lives in Melbourne. He enjoys poetry “that bounces and surprises, and that most of all is accessible”. He has been published in a range of national and international journals, most recently W-Poesis, Catchment and The Beatnik Cowboy, and is currently Poet-in-Residence at the Louis Joel Arts Centre in Hobson Bay, West Melbourne where, among other things, he produces a monthly podcast titled Louis Joel Poetry Pod, released on each full moon on Spotify.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.