Guest Post.
May 10, 2008 at 5:53 pm | Posted in poetry, writing | 8 CommentsTags: Erin O'Malley, guest post, poetry, writing
May I introduce Mrs Erin O’Malley. Mrs O’Malley is an Australian poet who teaches creative writing and Tai Chi at her local U3A (University of the Third Age). She was born a long time ago in Tasmania but migrated to Queensland recently because the warmer weather is good for her arthritis. And because Paul promised he would put whatever I wrote in my bio on his blog, she would also like to say that she is a birdwatcher, a huge fan of the The Decadent Wastrel.
- the lesser greyling
watching your hands as you pour tea
i remember that first last night then
forty years ago those same hands
wrapped around a microphone stand
and the sudden shock of your eyes
as the band began behind you
kicked and you looked up from under
your raggedy fringe, I swear, straight
into mine.
watching your eyes in this photograph
taken the year you died I remember the
first last night how cold the bed
and those eyes of yours
closing into sleep and the shock
of your hands touching me
that night when i had
buried you that afternoon,
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The Puzzle Box
gingatao, the podcast- Soraya December 6, 2011
- Teethmarks November 25, 2011
- the gentle art of soft landings June 29, 2010
- The Australian Poet Laureate
- another quote from Robert Adamson January 31, 2010
- Three Quotes from Robert Adamson October 22, 2009
- The copyright question (2) October 7, 2009
legal formalities
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Entries and comments feeds.
I just wanted to say my dear friend that I once surveyed the lay of the land… and she was a beauty.
I saw a Tasmanian devil once, it ate my friends sunglasses with its red snarling mouth and launched itself at the enclosure fence and although I encouraged him to retrieve what was left of his dignity and his glasses, he had not the courage to do so.
Comment by Fabian G. Franklin— May 10, 2008 #
Mrs Erin O’Malley, it’s a beautiful poem. I love the attention to detail and the subtle wordplay, the disorientation of time and reality, it’s perfect in its candid simple direct voice, how its all about the eyes.
Comment by harmonie22— May 10, 2008 #
The part that went right to my heart was the memory of the first last night.
The weaving of time is interesting. I had a clear image of him looking up from under his raggedy fringe. Wonderful poem, Mrs. O’
Comment by mariacristina— May 11, 2008 #
This is beautiful. I love the weaving of the repetitions of the hands and eyes and the inevitable waves of the end-stopped lines marching towards the loved one’s death. Waves of nostalgia and grief that emanate powerfully from the poem.
Comment by Writer Reading— May 11, 2008 #
Is Mrs O’Malley related to the great (imaginary) Australian poet, Ern O’Malley, per chance?
Comment by Oscarandre— May 11, 2008 #
note to me, aragaga busted already, go back and find that red riding hood poem, hahahaha
Comment by Paul— May 11, 2008 #
has everything of you, beautiful
Comment by johemmant— May 11, 2008 #
you little trickster you! 🙂
Comment by peterandthehare— May 11, 2008 #