Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

States of Poetry 2016 - South Australia | 'Telephone' by Kate Llewellyn

by
States of Poetry South Australia - Series One

States of Poetry 2016 - South Australia | 'Telephone' by Kate Llewellyn

by
States of Poetry South Australia - Series One

You ought to ring up
The farm may have disappeared
Into the river – as it does from time to time –
Or the trees in the orchard bloomed with stars
Or the geese may have rowed
in the blue dinghy adorned with hundreds
of marigolds to the island
with six of them sitting straight up
on the bench, the other two heaving an oar
while the rooster watches appalled
on the shore.
The peacocks may have grown tails
Orchestrated with shimmering eyes
And breasts in celestial blue
One may have turned white
Overnight and resemble nothing more
Than a bride who fled afraid
To a branch of the old mango tree
Where she stays sullen and stubborn
Refusing our blandishments to afternoon tea.
For all you know, the sky at dusk
May have entered the river
And bled there giving birth to the night.
The bauhinia tree may have turned pink
And filled itself up with small birds
Trembling like thumbs given wings.
Oh, at last the phone rings.

 

Kate Llewellyn

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.