Submissions by hemihead (hemi)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
Free….
LOVE POEM
Published
26th Dec 2016 1:46pm
26th Dec 2016 1:46pm
a song for the son
last two years I’ve been on my own Christmas day
not planned, except I like to sail my boat
and do a lot of it alone
makes a man sentimental
that kind of life
and that kind of day
got to drinking
remembering family
come and gone
cried here and there
for some old endings, still alive in my chest
and for some new beginnings
in there too
the usual drinking-alone Christmas day
then
a thought that had me undone
there are two photographs;
one is of my...
not planned, except I like to sail my boat
and do a lot of it alone
makes a man sentimental
that kind of life
and that kind of day
got to drinking
remembering family
come and gone
cried here and there
for some old endings, still alive in my chest
and for some new beginnings
in there too
the usual drinking-alone Christmas day
then
a thought that had me undone
there are two photographs;
one is of my...
742 reads
8 Comments
STORY POEM
Published
26th Dec 2016 1:25pm
26th Dec 2016 1:25pm
four days, four lessons
Day 1
It came passed the bottom of Australia four days ago
and the Tasmanians said it was big
storm front coming
will get here tonight
they know their weather down there
me and my boat
anchored in a bay
took three days to sail her here
and a few before that to get her ready
I’m waiting for that blow
got some things I want to know
I cook
eat light
drink a bit
read
check gear
and listen on the hour
to the marine radio channel
hear the weather warnings
all the big...
It came passed the bottom of Australia four days ago
and the Tasmanians said it was big
storm front coming
will get here tonight
they know their weather down there
me and my boat
anchored in a bay
took three days to sail her here
and a few before that to get her ready
I’m waiting for that blow
got some things I want to know
I cook
eat light
drink a bit
read
check gear
and listen on the hour
to the marine radio channel
hear the weather warnings
all the big...
784 reads
9 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
5th Dec 2016 9:11am
5th Dec 2016 9:11am
sung low
I want it today
the end of it
know it’s a trick
sure sure
cos it’s been good
lately
months of it now
making things
doing good work
living all the bells and drums
walking heavy
real big deal
big shadow
people answering my calls
lucky funny happy
next thing
new plans
all of those
all those shows
then
boom crash sunset...
the end of it
know it’s a trick
sure sure
cos it’s been good
lately
months of it now
making things
doing good work
living all the bells and drums
walking heavy
real big deal
big shadow
people answering my calls
lucky funny happy
next thing
new plans
all of those
all those shows
then
boom crash sunset...
760 reads
8 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
27th Nov 2016 9:16pm
27th Nov 2016 9:16pm
home fires
it has been their home for three years now
enough land for their horses
a balcony out front for his dog
and room for her boy
all his photos and memories up
(every year his room gets a little more taken over
first year a shrine, his and his alone
next year ribbons up too, from her horse event wins
this year it’s him, horse stuff and her office
time passing
hard but good)
they are getting married today
an at-home thing
I’m there to sign the witness papers
next of kin
just them...
enough land for their horses
a balcony out front for his dog
and room for her boy
all his photos and memories up
(every year his room gets a little more taken over
first year a shrine, his and his alone
next year ribbons up too, from her horse event wins
this year it’s him, horse stuff and her office
time passing
hard but good)
they are getting married today
an at-home thing
I’m there to sign the witness papers
next of kin
just them...
797 reads
18 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
7th Oct 2016 2:11pm
7th Oct 2016 2:11pm
once the story's written
overnight flight, 7 hours to fly back home
been two weeks away
to a place where the beds and liquor are cheap
two weeks away from my life
to a kind of waking dream
now ended
it’s after midnight, the plane somewhere over Australia
I sit half awake
my mind wanders, breaks the rules, gets to thinking about her
one of the good ones who come and go
the good ones, the ones that get in
the ones who leave something
it’s...
been two weeks away
to a place where the beds and liquor are cheap
two weeks away from my life
to a kind of waking dream
now ended
it’s after midnight, the plane somewhere over Australia
I sit half awake
my mind wanders, breaks the rules, gets to thinking about her
one of the good ones who come and go
the good ones, the ones that get in
the ones who leave something
it’s...
1084 reads
27 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
23rd Aug 2016 9:32pm
23rd Aug 2016 9:32pm
the priest-house blues (caution: long as hell)
everyone calls it the church house, because it was exactly that
built for the priests, right next to the church
and out the back behind the washing line there are two graves
for two of them who served their time right out
one headstone still readable, the other lost
there is no full-time priest here anymore, hasn’t been since the ‘70’s
so the church rents it out to reliable types, respectable types, and me
I walked up there last night from the one-horse pub, too much hard liquor for any driving ideas
have done it more than a few times...
built for the priests, right next to the church
and out the back behind the washing line there are two graves
for two of them who served their time right out
one headstone still readable, the other lost
there is no full-time priest here anymore, hasn’t been since the ‘70’s
so the church rents it out to reliable types, respectable types, and me
I walked up there last night from the one-horse pub, too much hard liquor for any driving ideas
have done it more than a few times...
1106 reads
23 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
7th Aug 2016 8:43pm
7th Aug 2016 8:43pm
champion
I don’t know the bloke
but I’ve seen him on tv a hundred times
played that many games for the All Blacks
the team my country hangs our pride on so heavy
that when they lose a game
domestic violence spikes;
more riding on the game points
than just bruises to ego
he was here to talk to the local rugby teams
about passion
pride
and getting on the program
but really an excuse
to drink away from home;
gladiator on the come-down
it's no secret that his missus is...
but I’ve seen him on tv a hundred times
played that many games for the All Blacks
the team my country hangs our pride on so heavy
that when they lose a game
domestic violence spikes;
more riding on the game points
than just bruises to ego
he was here to talk to the local rugby teams
about passion
pride
and getting on the program
but really an excuse
to drink away from home;
gladiator on the come-down
it's no secret that his missus is...
848 reads
14 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
5th Jun 2016 11:41pm
5th Jun 2016 11:41pm
smoke, dust, blood
800 miles from here, across a unloving winter-whipped ocean, sitting in a shed, covered in dust and boredom, sits my shit-hot hot-rod car. Brought her home with me when the call came to come back. Shipped her across the Tasman sea from wide red Australia, my long-legged desert crosser, my red-blooded, blood red, black heart hemi coupe.
I didn’t bring a woman back, didn’t even bring the dog, but brought the car. Couldn’t ship her all the way to the new worksite though, not all the way to the island where we’re making money from rock and concrete, not going to be the man who...
I didn’t bring a woman back, didn’t even bring the dog, but brought the car. Couldn’t ship her all the way to the new worksite though, not all the way to the island where we’re making money from rock and concrete, not going to be the man who...
1031 reads
14 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
15th May 2016 9:28pm
15th May 2016 9:28pm
sometimes we fight
this beach under my feet tonight
this long golden stretch of sand that arcs away from the front steps of the pub
curls around the bay to the blood red cliffs
where the whale came to die last month
filling the bay with sharks, white pointers
that are always there
but easier to see
when they came in to strip the whale
returned it to the sea
the only kind of burial a whale gets
this beach has seen it all before
only four generations ago
an invading tribe tied all the local women and children down
on this...
this long golden stretch of sand that arcs away from the front steps of the pub
curls around the bay to the blood red cliffs
where the whale came to die last month
filling the bay with sharks, white pointers
that are always there
but easier to see
when they came in to strip the whale
returned it to the sea
the only kind of burial a whale gets
this beach has seen it all before
only four generations ago
an invading tribe tied all the local women and children down
on this...
897 reads
11 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
6th Apr 2016 1:46am
6th Apr 2016 1:46am
two ways to burn them
Came down her driveway, looking
knew she’d gotten back last night, hadn’t heard from her, didn’t like it
saw her walking across the yard, turned, saw my vehicle, smiled, then pulled her face straight
came forward to me slow
I sat in the truck, knew something was up
came up to my window, talking quiet, looking down
reached out and touched my arm, pulled her hand away as soon as she caught herself
I saw the effort made, holding herself back, so I kept still, waited, figured she’d say but she didn’t
some small talk, “how was your...
knew she’d gotten back last night, hadn’t heard from her, didn’t like it
saw her walking across the yard, turned, saw my vehicle, smiled, then pulled her face straight
came forward to me slow
I sat in the truck, knew something was up
came up to my window, talking quiet, looking down
reached out and touched my arm, pulled her hand away as soon as she caught herself
I saw the effort made, holding herself back, so I kept still, waited, figured she’d say but she didn’t
some small talk, “how was your...
962 reads
17 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
16th Jan 2016 11:01pm
16th Jan 2016 11:01pm
a break in to darkness
We smelled the pig before we saw him, the dogs around the truck all alive to the scent but their path pulled sideways by the screams of a young suckling, them gone bounding off into the dark away from us in the wrong direction and then across the spray of our lights that big boar ran, the stink of him unmistakable. The 5 of us, drunk in various degrees, took up the howl of pursuit “get the fucker, get the cunt”, the truck leaping forward across the paddock, us thrown around the inside of it, each bracing an arm against the roof, bodies kept in place only by the crush of us in that small...
789 reads
10 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
28th Nov 2015 9:39am
28th Nov 2015 9:39am
missed
First time he left this island he was 15. Sailed as a deck boy on a coastal freighter heading for Christchurch on New Zealand’s southeast coast. Spent 12 years working his way up to Able Seaman, and went once around the world. Mostly though he worked the small freighters to the Pacific Islands, has a book in his lounge of those good ships. The picture inside the back cover is of his last one, before he swallowed the anchor and came home for good. In the front of the book is a handwritten list of the ships he sailed on, and on the wall behind his chair a brass bell hangs. It is from that last...
985 reads
12 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by hemihead (hemi)
