as much as we imagine    reliable

emotional landscapes       in the blink

of a grazing cow’s eye       life is re-invented

paddocks & a station         rush past

look & sigh, elsewhere      without colluding

with the overwhelm          to explain

layers beneath feelings     behaviour

in mid-sentence                  a sudden chill

ends the conversation      one’s theory

of the universe                   no longer tenable

as much as we function   without

humour or                           rainy-day attire

(remember on the island when we got caught

in a sudden deluge?)

on the eastern line             steel wheels

clatter the tracks                train, window

cows chew cud                    a dutiful father

listens—his keen eye         roves the light
tail-swish    ball…bell…balance—ear-flick 
his voice falters                  along the suture line

aberrant cells sweep aside           the gift of life

truth—paddocks         yellow-grey grass

shimmers—head-long      to evening.