Poems: Sundries & Grandfather
This week’s Poet’s Corner contributions come from Glenn McPherson.
Sundries
At age 92 he broke his hip.
Overbalanced on a precise cut shot, bowled
By the pulp owner’s son,
Over from Tumut to lend a hand.
Irrigation pipe in long grass finished it.
For 70 years he lived here
Without medicine or wife.
‘I’ve lived a good life,’ he tells the
Nurse, ‘still have all my hair.’
Two brown trout in a river, bend,
Then another.
It will be 100
Before they’re caught again.
Grandfather
Rolling Champion Ruby one-handed is entertainment
Enough, especially when the evening mist pours in
Through the valley, and all the children
Horse-whisper on the back seat of the Austin
Making inaudible the butcher birds
And his recital of C.J. Dennis.
Each trusts in the industry of the other.
A herd of sheep breach the rough track
By the roadside. The lambs hunker in close.
Their docked tails, like their testicles,
Are a dark afterthought, devoid of feeling.
Subscribe for updates
Glenn McPherson lives in Sydney. Published in leading Australian poetry journals and anthologies, he has worked as a teacher for more than 20 years. Growing up in small country towns in Central Queensland and North Western NSW, he received his teaching degree from the University of New England, followed by his Masters in Education, then Masters in Creative Writing, from The University of Sydney. He helps run a school creative journal at Broughton Anglican College, assisting students in developing skills in journalism and creative writing. They published their first edition before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and the interview with the celebrated Australian poet, essayist and teacher Mark Tredinnick, was the first to be included in the journal.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected].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.