Fossil
Dawn is buried
in the trunk of the day
it is to come
like regret-and-fear
a companion to events
like birds that alight
on waving branches
or a forgotten friend
or a stake
in what flies over
territory
something rare
wrapped in time’s meaning
instants cascade like wingbeats under the spanning of a valley
now as good a time as any
to sunder
whatever sounds derive from their busy wings
before they alight
on a branch like words you
might put
on a T-shirt
or what could be
a nymph
a ghost of the Cretaceous
stuck in amber
comforting as
potential
like an idea
or like that first thought
see it vanish in the ruffle of the neck
chip
away at the block
fate’s gifted
wear it down
to constituent parts
tear away mummified layers
to show
what’s hidden
in the seed
in channels
you anoint
with sparrow eyes.
Pressure
Difficult to appreciate
the depth of hours, competent weeks
spent messaging
in looping
conversations concertinaed
like weather
across impassive
faces
of this falcon globe
before which I pass
beacons through dreams
over boundaries
placed in the way
rhetoric functions
this way at last
and the fallout
strains the comprehension of ordinary mortals who
if they knew what was happening
daily
would rush
to clean up
all the mess
we contrive to make of the minutes we’re gifted.
At the bottom
of each hour
the guy on the TV
illuminates with simple, precise language aspects of our future
you can read the signs
at least
those unclaimed parts of it
beyond our control
but then y’arrive
like a tropical low
on one of your dips dialling my number
with the tap of a coloured circle
your finger
bringing the impressive
white extremities
of your voice
to bear
and I am chilled
hearing the words
you launch
like stones
at the windows
of my mind.
Bio: Matthew da Silva was born in Brighton, Victoria, and grew up in Sydney. He has Bachelor of Arts and Master of Media Practice degrees from the University of Sydney and lived for just under a decade in Tokyo. He has two adult children and lives in Sydney.
URL: matthewdasilva.com
Blog: happyantipodean.blogspot.com.au
Twitter – Main: @mattdasilva Writing: @bookchatoz Agriculture: @winningthefield
Instagram: matthewddasilva
LinkedIn: matthewdasilva
Fevers of the Mind 