Pemberton mist

here the evening air does not forget
how much it rained last August

I return middle-aged
walk familiar streets
unrecognised
someone wearing a hat

the karri
among a scribbling of greens
nude in vertical suede
the sun’s must

a boy with long blonde hair
lopes away from the bus
his school bag hollow

dusk is the time
for charcoal kangaroos
that lift their heads
before drumming the clearing empty

I cannot shake off this place
its dewed webs
its months of aluminium sky
the trees that ache in the breeze


Josephine Clarke (Western Australia)

First published in Eureka Street