Friday, 12 March 2021

Three Poems by Terry Wheeler

 



timing

 

(1)

 

takes a life

to learn

 

the protocols

how to bluff

 

when to fold

 

cards grow

greasy in

 

our hands

hear leonard

 

saying now

 

he’s leaving 

the game

 

that knack’s

a rare gift

 



(2)

 

couldn’t work

out when to

 

leave so usually 

stayed until 

 

stumps but

 

sometimes an

urge to flit 

 

meant an exit

without farewell 

 

next day a brief 

 

inquest ensued

what happened

 

to you last night

left unanswered 

 



(3)

 

perfectly timed

empty spaces

 

reaching out

to absolve your

 

point of view

 

sense being

cooked down

 

to its essence 

consonants

 

and vowels 

 

absorbed in

a silence

 

letting you 

breathe again






After graduating from law school in the late 1980s Terry worked in the Australian public service for decades. He was inspired to write after seeing Michael Dransfield poems in The Australian newspaper when a teenager. Terry has been published in Australia and abroad since retiring. He lives in Brisbane when not travelling.








 

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