Submissions by hemihead (hemi)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
Free….
LOVE POEM
Published
17th May 2013 1:01am
17th May 2013 1:01am
geezer gassin'
it’s no secret I love geezers
and right now I’ve got a good one
he comes on the job two days a week
hired him as my advisor
to make the job run
always comes on the job smelling like cut grass
spends his retired days
working his macadamia farm
which mostly means mowing it
so the rats don’t eat the nuts
we always take a drive
up the top of the hill
overlooking the job
sit and talk about what’s happening
he’s had 45 years building everything
everywhere
has got a war story for every...
and right now I’ve got a good one
he comes on the job two days a week
hired him as my advisor
to make the job run
always comes on the job smelling like cut grass
spends his retired days
working his macadamia farm
which mostly means mowing it
so the rats don’t eat the nuts
we always take a drive
up the top of the hill
overlooking the job
sit and talk about what’s happening
he’s had 45 years building everything
everywhere
has got a war story for every...
831 reads
12 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
14th May 2013 00:38am
14th May 2013 00:38am
the big-man blues
they say it takes a big man to change
to look honestly at himself
and see the need
well I’ve been looking
wrote down all the ugly bits
made a list
kept it in my pocket three days
crossed some things off
put ‘em back again
wrote more too
made another list off to the side;
who I’ve hurt
wrote down who must hate me
kept coming up with names
all of them true
only as great as my deeds
and the marks I leave on the world
well I leave a lot...
to look honestly at himself
and see the need
well I’ve been looking
wrote down all the ugly bits
made a list
kept it in my pocket three days
crossed some things off
put ‘em back again
wrote more too
made another list off to the side;
who I’ve hurt
wrote down who must hate me
kept coming up with names
all of them true
only as great as my deeds
and the marks I leave on the world
well I leave a lot...
967 reads
17 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
8th May 2013 1:14pm
8th May 2013 1:14pm
the shit-kicker blues
He’s not a big bloke. Sixty-ish, grey haired and bookish looking. Good handshake but soft hands, pink-skinned, perfectly pressed shirt. Thin but not a drop of muscle on him. Looks organized. Carries his papers in a leather briefcase, parks his pretty car in among the work trucks, looks around the job like he owns the joint. I’ve heard of him. Done all his time in construction working for the men who hold the money. Has made a name for himself as a shitkicker. Knows the contract. Knows the clauses down to forty-two point four point two A. The worst kind of bloke.
...
...
923 reads
9 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
6th May 2013 11:26am
6th May 2013 11:26am
don't f**k 'em all
I don’t mind old Don
bit cranky
bit red in the face
bit round and squat and thick fingered
bit honest
bit rough-as-buggery
tells a hell of a story
from his time
running heavy machinery
in the mines
we get to talking tonight
him sitting on his low seat
in the shed
next to the tractor he’s been fixing for weeks
still with its guts out
on the floor
“pass me the 10 mill socket mate” he says
and I do
waiting for whatever he’s been...
bit cranky
bit red in the face
bit round and squat and thick fingered
bit honest
bit rough-as-buggery
tells a hell of a story
from his time
running heavy machinery
in the mines
we get to talking tonight
him sitting on his low seat
in the shed
next to the tractor he’s been fixing for weeks
still with its guts out
on the floor
“pass me the 10 mill socket mate” he says
and I do
waiting for whatever he’s been...
1042 reads
26 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
6th May 2013 6:51am
6th May 2013 6:51am
flight
sitting in the pub down in Sydney
my ex-girlfriend hurling anger at me
in message and text
while the work crew
are talking loud across the table
drinking ‘cos the plane
to take us back to the job
is late
time gets away
and then the topless waitresses are out
but I can’t even look ‘em in the arse
aint got an ounce of joy for women right now
ploughed ‘em into the ground ...
my ex-girlfriend hurling anger at me
in message and text
while the work crew
are talking loud across the table
drinking ‘cos the plane
to take us back to the job
is late
time gets away
and then the topless waitresses are out
but I can’t even look ‘em in the arse
aint got an ounce of joy for women right now
ploughed ‘em into the ground ...
880 reads
10 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
4th May 2013 12:18pm
4th May 2013 12:18pm
poem for one
when we met
before I had ever heard the words "I love you"
and believed them
she was all the bright colours
and when I'd finished
she'd hidden
them all
away
before I had ever heard the words "I love you"
and believed them
she was all the bright colours
and when I'd finished
she'd hidden
them all
away
1038 reads
19 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
17th Apr 2013 1:29am
17th Apr 2013 1:29am
dirt blues
we’re fucked and we know it
have opened the ground up on the job
and the water is flowing so fast through it
twenty feet down
that I’ve been dreaming pissed-away dollars all night
it’s a seven figure fuck-up
or I haven’t been doing this twenty two years
nothing to do but ring the man who owns the company
and tell him as straight as straight
“we got real trouble here”
he goes quiet on the phone
serious and sane
and we get to talking about plans
plan B ...
have opened the ground up on the job
and the water is flowing so fast through it
twenty feet down
that I’ve been dreaming pissed-away dollars all night
it’s a seven figure fuck-up
or I haven’t been doing this twenty two years
nothing to do but ring the man who owns the company
and tell him as straight as straight
“we got real trouble here”
he goes quiet on the phone
serious and sane
and we get to talking about plans
plan B ...
895 reads
19 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
3rd Apr 2013 12:29pm
3rd Apr 2013 12:29pm
mud
had cut out of work
to go middle-of-the-day driving
left the boys to it
headed into the town
short drive
said I was going for lunch
lied
instead my plan was to sit
outside the grocery store
and bite down on my 7-days-of-no-smokes tongue
a kind of pleasure in not breaking
(a small test fought and won
is something)
but anyway
not important why
just drove toward town
came down the low hill
toward that shaky old-timey wooden bridge
they would have...
to go middle-of-the-day driving
left the boys to it
headed into the town
short drive
said I was going for lunch
lied
instead my plan was to sit
outside the grocery store
and bite down on my 7-days-of-no-smokes tongue
a kind of pleasure in not breaking
(a small test fought and won
is something)
but anyway
not important why
just drove toward town
came down the low hill
toward that shaky old-timey wooden bridge
they would have...
996 reads
15 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
18th Mar 2013 8:46pm
18th Mar 2013 8:46pm
yes I do
yesterday had some hours to kill
before finishing the trip home
the crew has been away a few days
inland
fixing a tunnel that the last storm broke
went up to see the repairs
to pay the bills
and buy the men a beer
did that
drove home
pulled over in a back-roads pub
about 4 o’clock
walked in
place was empty
dusty
must have missed the action
by about forty years
the barmaid
old-duck
small and too-thin
parchment faced
more grey than blond ...
before finishing the trip home
the crew has been away a few days
inland
fixing a tunnel that the last storm broke
went up to see the repairs
to pay the bills
and buy the men a beer
did that
drove home
pulled over in a back-roads pub
about 4 o’clock
walked in
place was empty
dusty
must have missed the action
by about forty years
the barmaid
old-duck
small and too-thin
parchment faced
more grey than blond ...
1032 reads
20 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
12th Mar 2013 10:09pm
12th Mar 2013 10:09pm
his love
the man on the phone tells me this boat
is the boat for me
is the one I need for what I want to do
have seen the pictures of her
have read the ad
have done my homework
but still don’t get the feeling enough
to put my short arms
in my long pockets
decide to ask around
get on to the bloke who owned her before him
the guy who owned her twenty years
sailed every bit of blue
he could get too
and only gave her up
when his hip got the rot too bad
to climb the mast
or boil the tea
...
is the boat for me
is the one I need for what I want to do
have seen the pictures of her
have read the ad
have done my homework
but still don’t get the feeling enough
to put my short arms
in my long pockets
decide to ask around
get on to the bloke who owned her before him
the guy who owned her twenty years
sailed every bit of blue
he could get too
and only gave her up
when his hip got the rot too bad
to climb the mast
or boil the tea
...
934 reads
14 Comments
LOVE POEM
Published
25th Feb 2013 11:38pm
25th Feb 2013 11:38pm
who the heroes were
First I heard of it were his tyres tearing at the pavement, his engine howling well past where it wanted to run, and the yelling, all angry as hell. Those GM V6 engines make a particular sound, so no doubt about who it was; only one in town. Put down my drink on the bar, told my woman I was going to see. She gave me one of those looks women do, half way between pride for her man and pity for a fool. Took the work-truck, the dog, and a cricket bat, all for protection, or something, and drove down the darkened roads through the village. Drove to where I’d last heard Big G’s truck going apeshit,...
830 reads
15 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by hemihead (hemi)
