disappointed
again
by morning
headlines
still unable to confirm
our dire
global circumstance
or the hint
of a plan
to steer us clear
but
the status quo
reinforces
with authorized denial
as
worst dreams
expose
polit speak enthusiasm
for business as usual
and
the roguish

‘don’t you think we know

First published by MMH in “Globalisation: A Poetry Collection” March 2021 Edited by Kelly Van Nelson
‘sanguine imbecility’
www.mmhpressgroup.com

each summer’s end
my brothers and I
would resurrect our football -
preparation of special needle,
dipped in glycerine,
affixed to a bicycle tyre pump
foreshadowed inflation
it was then ready
for another winter’s kicking

First published by Friendly Street in ‘New Poets 19’ Anthology edited by Edie Eicas, 2018

History
documents
global
human interaction
records efforts
to maintain
equilibrium
with negotiated
peace agreements
pacts
plans
but
even unread
children know

love
is unconditional

First published by MMH in “Globalisation: A Poetry Collection” March 2021
Edited by Kelly Van Nelson ‘ceasefire’
www.mmhpressgroup.com 

it
hurtles
into my waking
this
morning light
savagely
shakes
the night
from
my rising
slowly shades
the colour
of my imagining
as i prepare
to volunteer
at
the op shop
where
i serve
a disparate clientele
     that clothes itself
     in seconds

First published at ‘Hole in the Head’ May 2021 edited by William Schulz
Geoffrey Aitken 22 (holeintheheadreview.com)

i pretend
i am hearing
a conversation
face to face
so that
in its turn
my explanation
has credibility
about this thing
i have
for brevity
and the request
by editors
for more meat
more substance
prefer situations
concreted
for reader pleasure
with
extended metaphoric moments
that deliver
life’s complexities
obliquely
palatably
fully
but my inclination
remains with
the concise
the succinct
the glimpse
because
that is how the light falls
in this domain
in my allocation

First published at ‘Wattletales’ by Lindy Warrell, March 2021
Finally, A Beginning by Geoffrey Aitken ~ wattletales.com.au

she’s in the kitchen
using her gran’s recipes
long-time family favourites
shaping, creating,
rolling, squashing
returning childhood
memories and tears
while later
with her children
pre-dinner
they make
from prime beef mince,
hamburger patties
which are squashed,
rounded, flattened
but this time
the onions induce the crying

First published by Friendly Street in ‘New Poets 19’ Anthology
edited by Edie Eicas, 2018