Today

The Australia Club

An old Victorian club for men
On a high street in the Antipodes
Sandstone walls, corinthian columns
In wood, carvings of kangaroos, kookaberras
Bison was served by a man in white gloves
Along with Barossa shiraz As I sat with my father and a family friend
Stuffed into a suit like a taxidermist's Koala
Exiles, us two.
He from my mother, from his life. And me from mine
Lost and found, dining
In this unlikely place
The Australia Club
Just for men.

The Boy in the Rain

Sheets of rain like curtains of wet silk
Us huddled under a doorway
Waiting for a lull
The boy wearing my parka
that I had leant him
Quiet water running along our feet
Me in sandals
Cascading toward the Yarra at the bottom of the hill
Feeding a parched land

"I am scared," I said.
"Life is scary," he told me.
Then we were off into the storm,our parkas flailing over us
Spots of color on a gray autumn day
And then inside my iron gate, I was dry.
But he was gone