One Poem by Stephen House

a tidy laugh

 

a woman in a café

by a beach

near an empty warehouse where i sleep

in a narrow lane

behind a five star hotel

asks me

are you on holidays

i’m here for a couple of months

so what is your work

i write poems and plays

perform when i get a gig

 

she spits out a tidy laugh

that bangs me in my gut

so you don’t work at all

same laugh

i do

i’m working now

here

 

i pick up my pen

begin writing a poem

about a woman

who laughed at my work

 

she stands to leave

gives me a look

goes by where i sit

writing about her

goodbye

no reply

only a tidy laugh

            ok

 

she keeps walking towards the five star place

past my warehouse squat

 

i buy another long black

on credit

            thankyou

i think i can pay tomorrow

 

get back to my work

my poem

 

my life

 

my fear

Stephen House is an award winning Australian playwright, poet and actor. He’s won two Awgie Awards (Australian Writer’s Guild) , Adelaide Fringe Award, Rhonda Jancovich Poetry Award for Social Justice, Goolwa Poetry Cup, Feast Short Story Prize and more. He’s been shortlisted for Lane Cove Literary Award, Overland’s Fair Australia Fiction Prize, Patrick White Playwright and Queensland Premier Drama Awards, Greenroom best actor Award and more. He’s received Australia Council literature residencies to Ireland and Canada, and an India Asialink. His chapbook “real and unreal” was published by ICOE Press Australia. He is published often and performs his work widely.