deep, rich wood massages knots into a chair.
And there, stretched in kaleidoscopic splendour,
a hammock sways and pitches in the air.
Reader
Like gathering manuscripts
found on a shelf, turned by hands of fate,
you read my tale, your eyes relate
to heaven’s hand of hieroglyphic stars.
Leaving London
The Thames by my window, winking its brackish bluey grey.
Scattered drops in cityscape surround the City’s working day.
It’s film shoot background, but I see not the spirals and spires,
the deep-vaulted history in museums sparse,
the chamber pots emptied in the streets,
or burning embers of great fires.
I see the minutiae—concentric circles born of class
where suited sir in dizzying station meets
the screeching homeless man.
I see it all reduced in shrinking parts
to hearth and home and clan
and sigh…
It seems so small a place
to one who cannot stay.
Homecoming
A stranger
I walk among you,
translucent as a spirit,
I am invisibly different,
irresponsibly changed,
molecules of birthright rearranged.
Friendliness washes
my homecoming baptismal.
Kin gather round, large-laughing.
Does my maker recognise
this newly nut-brown skin?
I am detached from her,
a snapped umbilical cord,
removed from her raw red womb.
I am filled with foreign words,
vowels that voice the sentiments of whom?
Clipped-speaking my mind: “Bollocks to this!”
This dragging sorrow sinks deep into the Thames,
like gold coins I mistake for pounds
with haunted Aboriginal faces.
From the beginning.
Thank you for purchasing this poetry eBook.
About the Author
Karin Cox is a Queensland editor turned full-time author who has worked for traditional publishing houses in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Since her first book, Roma: From Prison to Paradise, was published by New Holland Publishers in 2003, she has had more than 28 titles published across a range of genres, from children’s fiction to travel guides, to creative non-fiction and natural history guides. She also writes poetry, short stories and young adult fiction. Karin lives with her partner and baby daughter in Capalaba, Australia. Feel free to contact Karin on karinwork@hotmail.com or via her website https://www.editorandauthor.com to let her know your thoughts. You can also follow her on twitter @Authorandeditor or read her blog.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my friend and editor, Cathy, for her eagle eyes and valued editorial advice. Thanks also to the many friends, lovers and acquaintances who inspired these works. I owe a debt of gratitude to the two most important men in my life: my loving partner Koert, and my father who shares my love of verse.