Joanna Preston: Tasmanaut Poet
for Stewart Had we shelf-space enough, and time, This gluttony, lady, were no crime. We would sit down and read away The afternoons of our love’s long day; You, by the fickle muse’s side Through Poetry stroll; I, in the tide Of Comedians’ Biographies drift. We would Build ourselves an ark of Fantasy, and flood The kitchen-cum-dining …
Continue reading "Tuesday Poem – ‘To His Bibliophilic Wife’"
An Unusual Affection for Paperclips I am growing older, stiffer in knees and hips. How could I not admire the flexibility of paperclips? * Pleasure comes from simple things. Behold a child with a box of coloured paperclips! * Chaos is the final order, and settles among my things. I hold it at bay with bookmarks, …
Mending You are sitting close to the light, intent on thread and needle and the lining of my good coat, trailing like a slipped wing. Outside, snow has started falling again. You taught me to sew. Strange craft for a husband perhaps, and you learned it young. Frowning, you deftly unpick what I had tacked …
Jar The tomatoes are struggling. Early frosts have made the quest for ripeness instead a hard scrabble for autumn survival. Leaves yellow and the veins stand out – green tributaries of a leaking river-system. We stroke their knobby stems and press our lips to the fruit to coax a little more colour into their cheeks. A week more, and we will harvest …
The Beautiful Boys of Amsterdam We made love in a glass-walled bedroom. Opening the curtains brought the city to our table, and we drank it in. It was high summer, and the beautiful boys of Amsterdam were everywhere, shirtless and smiling. Who would not bloom there? Feeling like teenagers, we strolled along the canal into …
A Dark Feathered Art 