Rabbit on the Promenade
in homage to JS Harry
Umwelt of responses
and in the substrates below
a silt of muted action.
There are inaudible gasps
bouncing in echo chambers
from delicate atria
to delicate atria
in a soundproof dugout
which pre-empts any
sour acoustic.
This is my skittish
rabbit’s heart
which hops softly
so my fellow crowd members
won’t fear my paw pound
like I fear hammers creating
this fur face of crushed paper
setting these eyes straight
ahead, up and down,
and any periphery lopped.
This torso the only aligned
part of raw automata
a straight ahead up and down
line. A body made for tunnels.
No slouches allowed.
My wet nose touches
another wet nose
and white whiskers
twitch on pockmarked
cheeks. Red eyes as a
skittish rabbit. The home
is proof of damage. It’s
quiet here. Outside the grass
blades swash my floppy ears.
It’s a clash of waves
cotton battles till the
punched hugs
and small slide
of wet noses.
There’s much activity here
the grass blades rattle,
the busy prowls and promenade predates
are like a pocket turned inside out
and lint falls like a feather
(there was a bus ticket too).
I ate at a restaurant with lah-di friends
nibbled on crispy wafers
caramel flan for dessert.
I put my money away and counted my
approving recollections of a city outing.
A Poet Knows When
Right up against me
before sleep
after waking
I carry carcass.
It taps me on the shoulder
I lug it from room to room.
It tells me the Vedic line
when I will join carcass earth.
When the meteorite lands
on its feet
it drags me like
repulsive lovers can
declaring undying
alarm buzz
it thrusts its cunt at me
I kiss its bare bone breasts.
It’s ten it says,
set the wake up
for then, the port
of entry in ten years
and when I arise
without bladder organs
with calcified face
torso tilted with rattle coin
I latch on to the next
keeler. The one for me
who wakes and sleeps
in dread in a canoe called bed.
Ariel Riveros Pavez is a Sydney based writer. His works have appeared in various publications including Contrappasso, FourW, Journal of Postcolonial Text, Social Alternatives and Southerly. He also has a chapbook through Blank Rune Press, Self Imposed House Arrest, and appears in their anthology Forgetting is So Long: An Anthology of Australian Love Poetry.