Collision on Winthrop Avenue

It isn’t just the impact
that shocks.

It’s the violence
of the sound
exploding your reveries.

It’s the surprise
of your car spinning
and others whizzing past.

It’s the vehicle
stopping
facing oncoming traffic.

It’s the surprise
of children’s workbooks
strewn across lanes
colouring-in weeping in soft drizzle.

It’s the insistence
of the blaring horn
refusing to be silenced
and the door that won’t open.

It’s the surprise
of what might have been.


Rita Tognini (Western Australia)

Hierarchy

Roman Catholic section, Karrakatta Cemetery

rows of Celtic crosses
stand tall for
           Archbishops
           Bishops
           Monsignors
           mere
           priests

small brass plaques on concrete kerbs recall
           Mothers and Sisters


Rita Tognini (Western Australia)

Post Office Creek, Bidyadanga

cod and red bream gasp
beat mud with their tails      a bird
calls from the mangrove                 spiders
prick the water’s edge to eddies

the ocean sighs in a bailer shell
Venus rises      all the other stars come out
from beyond the sandbar the sea calls
its Saltwater people
                                   draws their spirit
                                                                    out
                                                                               with the tide


Rita Tognini (Western Australia)