The still-loved spheres
of those who’ve fled
the quarantined unsought except
perhaps on a six monthly Sunday
reaching elder neglect yet without
cane or walking frame
the brimming bouquet
of social surrounds
now stems keeled over
flowers browned from
thirst and flame
a vacancy of bloom
the familiar touch on the shoulder
in a country of long drought
the indifferent joy
that comfort and doing ok chardonnay
a familiar bitterness of young wine.
A city where distances are elongated
because of LCD and plasma screens
and marriages founded on crisis.
The height of belonging being
the ready citizenship of narkiness
and the fury of drunken auteurs
holding imprimatur and even bruxing in their dreams
birthright the dog-shivers releasing voltage.
It’s a contagion of decades and dross,
uprooting and scorching the garden
on Addison Rd renos
a very large number of grass blades
differing to differ – the agonism of yardbird impersonators
triumphing in the universality of shit as ultimate
and a quiet good chuckle
lest the flung polyglot of the outside
picks apart the premiere position
of us who are old enough
for the monotheism of highways
A million has six zeros
A google has a million zeros
A googleplex has a googleworth of zeros
it’s not that hard for anyone
who remembers the good nights
and sleeping through black outs
Loss was the right thing to happen
and loving the face
but fearful of the soundtrack
of documentaries that stood
on their own. Sophomoric is the
fear and the best I’ve done today
green words and the odd tomato
the swept steps wept on
by people who deserved peace
a pantomime of smashed crockery
years after the wedding
the stammering breath of children
waiting for the placidity of lakes
the treaty of embraces
invitations to play with cousins
to hear the seldom voiced
the patterns of zoological park signage
crossing the water to Patonga.
The language of lungs
the respiration of towers
and a visitation through doorframes
owned by those who are known.
No flyby hellos from St Damien required
just you and your nose.
Ariel Riveros Pavez 
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