Poem: Erna
This week’s Poet’s Corner contribution is from arts journalist, commentator and poet Phil Brown.
Erna
a fragment of memory
Erna, a small woman in a sunlit room
as children we were meeting her
for the first time
my parents knew her
when my mother worked in the bank
and my father was building a bridge
that was washed away
in Maitland’s great flood of 1955
how Erna ended up in this country town
I do not know
but being anywhere would have been okay
under the circumstances
as fleeting as the meeting was
I remember it quite clearly
And it has just appeared in flashback
Unannounced
It’s a snippet out of time
apropos of nothing
one of those recollections
recorded on filaments of memory
to be played back by recall
or at random
Erna was emphatic
some might say difficult
but she seemed kind
and she smiled at us,
crinkles at the corners of her eyes.
there was something special about her
and my mother had suggested this
in an oblique way
that was unclear to us
many years later
I came to understand
why my mother was so obtuse.
and why there was a kind of infinite sadness
hanging like mist in the air
and I finally realized
what the numbers tattooed on her arm signified.
Phil Brown, living in Brisbane, is an arts journalist, commentator, poet, author, presenter at festivals and other events, who has worked for major news outlets in Australia and internationally. Currently he is the editor of InReview Queensland, which expanded from Solstice Media’s InReview South Australia. His poetry and short stories, travel and various other articles have appeared widely individually and in collections, the latter including: ‘The Kowloon Kid’, published by Transit Lounge in 2019. More can be found about Phil and his work here.