Submissions by hemihead (hemi)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
Free….
all the way
Women don’t move me so much these days
and I think they feel the same way
about me
grey hair lines on a face
in your forties yeah ok rugged man
but 52 and the slope of the graph isn’t right
for romance
the good about it
is I’m not up all night chasing the latest
just can’t find a song I haven’t already heard
the last joke on a bachelor
if you taste all the flavours
one day
all vanilla
it’s hormones sure
the colour of my blood
doesn’t...
and I think they feel the same way
about me
grey hair lines on a face
in your forties yeah ok rugged man
but 52 and the slope of the graph isn’t right
for romance
the good about it
is I’m not up all night chasing the latest
just can’t find a song I haven’t already heard
the last joke on a bachelor
if you taste all the flavours
one day
all vanilla
it’s hormones sure
the colour of my blood
doesn’t...
#love
1486 reads
27 Comments
like you know what
10 years since we buried him
so went home
to see my sister
who bore him
until death
doctor gave it a name at 15
and it took him at 16
I came cos she said to
has always been like that
her the woman I turn an ear to
so I went there
to her place
on the farm
arrived in my usual cloud of big-city bluster
noise and hard liquor
fancy rented go-go car
dropped my city shoes
picked out a pair of gumboots
from the rack
and just like that
already Country
...
so went home
to see my sister
who bore him
until death
doctor gave it a name at 15
and it took him at 16
I came cos she said to
has always been like that
her the woman I turn an ear to
so I went there
to her place
on the farm
arrived in my usual cloud of big-city bluster
noise and hard liquor
fancy rented go-go car
dropped my city shoes
picked out a pair of gumboots
from the rack
and just like that
already Country
...
#grief
#hope
1316 reads
23 Comments
buried here
He is a farmer
his family has been on this land 80 years
was born here in the front room
has never moved an inch
married the girl all the boys were chasing
from the town one over
and they stayed
now both bent with age
retired really
farming in name only
the fences shot
and just a few head of beef being grazed
to be able to say it’s what they do
obvious he’s planned to be buried here
probably up the side valley
where they say their...
his family has been on this land 80 years
was born here in the front room
has never moved an inch
married the girl all the boys were chasing
from the town one over
and they stayed
now both bent with age
retired really
farming in name only
the fences shot
and just a few head of beef being grazed
to be able to say it’s what they do
obvious he’s planned to be buried here
probably up the side valley
where they say their...
#money
1140 reads
18 Comments
the young bloke
It happened like it always does;
phone call out of nothing
someone with that voice
and you know before the words come out
that a life has done its run
I hired him myself
remember the day well
him too young for the work we do
“sorry mate, the young one’s always cause us pain”
but his dad asked me honest
sat at my kitchen table
said his boy was no good as a fisherman’s son
“gets seasick. Hopeless case. But he can work, he works real good”
so I said ok
broke my rule
hired a seventeen year old ...
phone call out of nothing
someone with that voice
and you know before the words come out
that a life has done its run
I hired him myself
remember the day well
him too young for the work we do
“sorry mate, the young one’s always cause us pain”
but his dad asked me honest
sat at my kitchen table
said his boy was no good as a fisherman’s son
“gets seasick. Hopeless case. But he can work, he works real good”
so I said ok
broke my rule
hired a seventeen year old ...
983 reads
10 Comments
mongrel
I don’t like him
never did
but that doesn’t matter
what matters is he’s fucking me
holding out on the one bit of paper I need
to make the final claim
for the work we’ve done
millions riding on it
and my neck
a man in my seat
has to know how to close
has been this way 11 months
have had all the meetings
his people
my people
lawyers
official letters
so brought him in to my office ...
never did
but that doesn’t matter
what matters is he’s fucking me
holding out on the one bit of paper I need
to make the final claim
for the work we’ve done
millions riding on it
and my neck
a man in my seat
has to know how to close
has been this way 11 months
have had all the meetings
his people
my people
lawyers
official letters
so brought him in to my office ...
#LifeAsAWriter
984 reads
15 Comments
six thousand silent days
I met love in the open
met it at 19
and didn’t know it
figured it for easy come easy go
watched it live
walked from it
year by year
by making work matter more
than her
and watched love die in the dirt
unknowing
came home one night to her tears
blues songs
“there’s another man”
then knew love truly
in the hammerbeat of regret
that lasted more years
than I’ll ever say aloud
17 years later ...
met it at 19
and didn’t know it
figured it for easy come easy go
watched it live
walked from it
year by year
by making work matter more
than her
and watched love die in the dirt
unknowing
came home one night to her tears
blues songs
“there’s another man”
then knew love truly
in the hammerbeat of regret
that lasted more years
than I’ll ever say aloud
17 years later ...
#love
1334 reads
23 Comments
enough
two o’clock in the morning
sitting naked on my rooftop
need to be up in four hours
to hit the job
but no sleep
job fucking with me
mind going over the same ground
stuck in it
can’t solve the problem
but won’t leave it alone
have tried all the usual tricks;
meditated
watched a French movie
read a chapter on finance management
rubbed one out
but here I am
cold
naked
awake
on the roof
my arse soaking up...
sitting naked on my rooftop
need to be up in four hours
to hit the job
but no sleep
job fucking with me
mind going over the same ground
stuck in it
can’t solve the problem
but won’t leave it alone
have tried all the usual tricks;
meditated
watched a French movie
read a chapter on finance management
rubbed one out
but here I am
cold
naked
awake
on the roof
my arse soaking up...
1027 reads
12 Comments
silence come
time at sea
and my mind stuck on the words of the greeks
has ruined me for much of life
unable now
to spend time among the chattering people
and small talk
couldn’t care less where the best restaurants are
or whose beer is outbrewing whose
my diet is stripped down
to only what I need
in permanent training
for days and days on the boat
the greeks say things about that
and Buddha too;
that a man should take in to himself
only what he needs ...
and my mind stuck on the words of the greeks
has ruined me for much of life
unable now
to spend time among the chattering people
and small talk
couldn’t care less where the best restaurants are
or whose beer is outbrewing whose
my diet is stripped down
to only what I need
in permanent training
for days and days on the boat
the greeks say things about that
and Buddha too;
that a man should take in to himself
only what he needs ...
1060 reads
16 Comments
war for peace
sunday morning
and I lie on the couch
all about me
lay books on the usual things;
poetry
strategy
the philosophy of the greeks
while BB King plays slow blues
in the background
to keep the noise of the city quiet
downstairs
the clothes drier does the work
a slave would have done
in the days the philosophers wrote
and BB sings it still
I have been here on this couch
most Sundays
for three...
and I lie on the couch
all about me
lay books on the usual things;
poetry
strategy
the philosophy of the greeks
while BB King plays slow blues
in the background
to keep the noise of the city quiet
downstairs
the clothes drier does the work
a slave would have done
in the days the philosophers wrote
and BB sings it still
I have been here on this couch
most Sundays
for three...
1182 reads
12 Comments
Eddie (2/3/17)
he had the operation 6 months ago
replaced a dodgy hip joint
with a better one
you should have seen the change
went from an old bent cripple on a cane
to 10 years younger
and 6 inches taller
in two weeks
was like the world’s worries lifted off him
saw him a few times after that
used to meet him at the island’s airport
him meeting guests for his homestay
me coming going
always good to see him
sun-ruined wide smiling...
replaced a dodgy hip joint
with a better one
you should have seen the change
went from an old bent cripple on a cane
to 10 years younger
and 6 inches taller
in two weeks
was like the world’s worries lifted off him
saw him a few times after that
used to meet him at the island’s airport
him meeting guests for his homestay
me coming going
always good to see him
sun-ruined wide smiling...
799 reads
yesterday's fire
it’s been years since we danced that dance
story came to an end like they usually do;
fire burned down to mediocre heats
never been the type to hold fast to dying light
so told my story walking
gone baby gone
don’t think of her much
too many come and gone
to give thought to any particular tune
not what the romantics like to hear
but if you aren’t the heat in the room
if you aren’t the compass of my blood
then you are worse than yesterday
no juice no joy...
story came to an end like they usually do;
fire burned down to mediocre heats
never been the type to hold fast to dying light
so told my story walking
gone baby gone
don’t think of her much
too many come and gone
to give thought to any particular tune
not what the romantics like to hear
but if you aren’t the heat in the room
if you aren’t the compass of my blood
then you are worse than yesterday
no juice no joy...
970 reads
14 Comments
dead weight
2am in the morning
walking the new tunnel
sent in to see how the job is going
which is an easy read for “not very well”
it’s a 2 lane road tunnel
flouro-light lit
with water running down the walls from cracks in the black rock
bone-cold as a mountain stream
and that hard white light makes it feel even colder
the wind outside
funnels up the valley
blows in the east entrance
and straight out the other...
walking the new tunnel
sent in to see how the job is going
which is an easy read for “not very well”
it’s a 2 lane road tunnel
flouro-light lit
with water running down the walls from cracks in the black rock
bone-cold as a mountain stream
and that hard white light makes it feel even colder
the wind outside
funnels up the valley
blows in the east entrance
and straight out the other...
1028 reads
10 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by hemihead (hemi)