Five Poems by Terry Wheeler

 

cutter

mercy is

the cutter

cuts through

the suffering 

brings light

so we

may see

that other

side where

love hides

waiting for

us to

rise above

the violence

char

mad as a

burning bush

out of that

irrationality 

will emerge

stirrings of

new life

green fingers

through all

this black

unlikely

light

from

the char

tao

greater crime

wasting life

or expecting

too much

from it 

one way

pleasure

the other

anxiety 

we attempt

to sail

between

scylla and

charybdis

 

disclaimer 

reconciled to

contradictions 

rationality’s a

road that

takes you

so far

the material 

peters into

the spiritual

as large

stars will

collapse

becoming

black holes

sponge

let them

all in

influences

they’ll seek

you out

keep your

eyes open

and be

habitually 

receptive 

nothing’s too

high or

low to

learn from

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. In 2024 his first book of poetry ‘notes to self’ was released by ComPress. He lives in Brisbane when not travelling.