Brian Purcell
I’ve been publishing poetry in magazines such as Meanjin and Southerly, and anthologies like Australian Love Poems, for nearly forty years. During 1985-95 I was the lead singer/lyricist for the band Distant Locust, which toured Europe and released CDs there in the early 90s. I am also a painter and working towards my first solo exhibition, as well as working on a poetry manuscript for Flying Islands.
Construction Site
breathing
like an infernal machine
that waits for me
limbs now diagonal
horizontal, vertical
all movements of ease
acrobatical
the goblins are digging up the streets
down the hill
ribbons of wind and light
knotting in the trees
and the full moon
cracks a half-grin
at nightfall, at 2am
slumped on the side of the road
I wait for you
bound to you
until the cars parading the avenue
outrunning the quarantine
are ghostly still
carapaces
filled with a fragile
network of cracks
meanwhile the earth shakes
machines climb the hill
the virus filling everything
with its rotten breath
I remember the way
moonlight followed
the curls in your hair
I remember
how still we were
when silence was enough
all I do now
is open and close these doors
2am
while I try to sleep
the ground
beneath my feet
is breaking up