Saturday, June 21, 2003

 

Croak!


On the morning after the night that Darlene's father died,
the frogs could be heard to be a croaking
across the working class suburbs of South-Western Sydney.

Darlene's dad had been a slimy frog of a man,
and his wake was to be one of unspoken celebration
rather than of sorrow, grief or commiseration,
a party to mark the end of many years of no parties.

"Some of the parties that we threw
would last from sunset to sunrise to sun set again"
Darlene would come to say to her psychiatrist.
But it was years before we really came to enjoy them".

Outside in the wilds of suburbia
the frogs are heard to be croaking
as if all of them together are celebrating something.
All of them, that is, save one.



Rewrite


On the morning after the night that Darlene's father died,
the frogs were heard a croaking across the suburbs of South- Western Sydney

He had been a slimy frog bastard of a man,
and his wake was one of unspoken celebration
rather than one of sorrow, grief or commiseration,
a party to mark the end of many years of no parties.

Some of the parties that we threw
would last from sunset to sunrise to sun set again"
Darlene would one day say to her psychiatrist.
But it was years before we really came to enjoy them".

Outside in the wilds of suburbia
the frogs are again croaking
as if all of them together are celebrating something.
All of them, save one.


Rewrite 2


The frogs had been croaking
across the suburbs of Sydney
on the morning after the night
that Darlene's father died.

A wife-beating, child molester
his wake wasn't one of commiseration.
Rather, it marked the beginning
of the end
of years of torment.

There will come a time,
when Darlene tells a psychiatrist
of the many parties that were to come
after her father's death.
Some of them lasting
from sunrise to sunset
to sunrise again.
but it would was to be a long time
Before she truly learned to enjoy herself.

Now, across the wilds of suburbia,
the frogs are croaking again
as though all of them,
except one,
are celebrating something.

Monday, June 16, 2003

 

Fast

A plane flies past.

Fatima and her daughters prepare for a feast.
A butterfly enters through their kitchen window,
and lands on the youngest daughter's shoulder.
Next door, Mrs. Browne says,
" Stay out of the 'fridge, Billy jnr, you know
that you can't take communion if you
eat before mass."

After twenty five days,
the prisoner's demands are met.
Bill sips his water slowly.
A plane flies past.

Joe's doing one-twenty in a sixty zone.
He turns to Helen,
his surgically enhanced new wife and says,
"If she were my daughter I'd force her to eat"
He spits out the window and the spit flies back onto his face.
He wipes the spit off with his hand,
and then wipes his hand onto his trousers.
A plane flies past.
"I mean forget the psychobabble,
I'd make her eat."
They arrive at the hospital; Helen gets out.
Joe doesn't.
He drives off as though he has an angry hornet up his arse.

"Hell 'n' back, Hell' n' back
Helen's been to Hell and back"
that's what the kids in her sixth grade
class to used say.
Hell and back.
Yep. Many a time.
A plane flies past

Helen and her daughter, Anna, have lunch
away from the hospital.
They eat at an outdoor cafe.
Well, actually,
Helen eats; Anna doesn't.
The sun shines down on the
white downy hairs on Anna's arms.
" Dr O'Neill tells me you're doing much better"
A plane flies past.

Katie 'the pensive one' O'Neill puts down her spoon and asks,
"Mum, why's breakfast called breakfast?"
"Sorry, Katie, I'm late for work, ask your dad.
Now, come and give mummy a kiss.
Kiss, kiss, mmmmwwwwahhh!
Then to her husband,
"I'll be working back late at the hospital tonight."
They kiss.
She rushes off.

“Why is breakfast called breakfast, dad?
It's called breakfast, petal, because


A plane crashes.

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