distant place
(1)
born
to an
edwardian
city
on an
outreach
of
an
empire
that
wore
itself
out in
a
second
world
war
now
we
kowtow
to
a
larger
hegemony
losing
face
(2)
most
of those
sandstone
edifices
are
no
more
replaced
by
anonymous
mushrooms
of
glass
and
concrete
nothing
meant
to
last but
a
desperate
grasp
for a
quick
buck
coronation
zadok
the priest
(who
does unto
the
least) (seven
voices
soaring)
and
nathan
the
prophet
(handel’s
hymn)
anointed
solomon
king
(who
understood
words
can be
either
poison
or
fruit
you
choose)
babylon
belshazzar
johnny cash’s
first
composition was
recorded
for sun records
in
nineteen fifty seven
johnny
knew his bible
daniel’s
story about the regent
unable
to read the writing
on
the wall found wanting
holed
up in saugerties after
a
world tour and bike accident
dylan
taught this song to his
backing
band sans drummer
dylan
knew his johnny cash
and
where to lie low while
his
country imploded over
an
unwinnable asian invasion
nebuchadnezzar
the king
of
babylon a couple of
generations
earlier spent seven
years
exiled in the wilderness
arthur
boyd saw blake’s
tortured
image at the tate
later
when the monks were
self
immolating in protest
arthur
set fire to that image
in
the living room here a print
the
king aflame insane falling
over
an australian waterfall
wichita
lineman
different
each
time
more
than
the
lines
a
great song
is
a place
you
often
visit
yet never
figure
out
an
alchemy
that
leaves
you
there
still
on
the
line
Terry Wheeler - 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.
I really enjoyed your set of poems. Wichita Lineman was favorite because it made me think.
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