Inside the chateau of crimson knickerbockers

We hopscotch through doorways full of children

One hundred lashes

And a wink from the chariot master

Hiding inside the gift box

Jack-in-the-box

Vegemite on white bread toast

No crust

I don’t recall exactly when I wanted to

Because I want to meet you

Because I’ve never met you
I am the Oxen

Dancing in the fertile dreams of yawning furrows

Blink, Blink

Hey Mr.

With the toucan marvels

Hide me behind the bird song lullabies

I promise to brush my teeth

You’re always sharpening your pencil

Lead is heavy

Hot pink firecrackers

And you fly around the city in your wagon

Howling incandescent hymns out onto the porches

Horticultural snobbery

You taught me a flower is the enigmatic blossoming

Of reform

You have hair that fished in the lake

And feet that held on

I think
I make kite boat silhouettes

I walk great distances

And I see you

Hugging the chair legs

You hold up a nursery

Demanding all of the diamond hydrangeas

For me

But all I wanted was Bobby from Arkansas

Falling asleep

Broad merino clarinet shoulders

You play me the winds of Autumn

Auburn snow grasshoping between the leaves

Succulents

Fingertops

You are close as ever

Because I want to meet you

Because I’ve never met you
You bought me a kite yesterday

Hold my hand

You tell me to look towards the Moon

Follow the needle string

Somewhere between here

And there

You are always under my chin

Look up

Patching melodies that the mountains pluck

I ride on your shoulders from Yosemite to Strathbogie

Your feet tell a story

Size 11 bootstrap braille

Pine needles

Salt bush

You and me tasted it all
I ride the ghost train to school

Route 106

Along the smoky starfish coast

Winding down and pop

The merry-go-round grows off the tall window statues

Packed Tupperware lunchbox

When you get home we’ll dance the foxtrot

No tracks at home

Crouching in the quilted muffling of my lucidity

You bring extra cushions

Bright yellow ladybirds

Hazy blue fabrications

Keep me warm

Because I want to meet you

Because I’ve never met you
I am in love with Frankie

Enamel cups

Candles

And sunsets at Margret’s with Tupelo Honey

Too much red wine

Rushing blood

We are never cold at night

You tell us of the time you went droving

Digging your spurs into the rugged heart of the desert

To muster cleanskin Mickey bulls

Old Murray pulling bores

He’d come back stained forever

And you wake up with the stock camp

Saddle Atlas

And ride off to the next contract

From Heartbreak to Avon Downs

They’d see you at dawn

Akubra saluting the bush gods
That’s why I live in the treetops

In the granite

And the gum nuts

Whistling into the leafy tundra

When the Sun rears its head

Because I want to meet you

Because I’ve never met you
I am over

And under

My floral jungle bouquet youth

And the river is running with breast milk

I am in love with Frankie

And little Hank
But what should I tell him

That you told me

Because I’ve never met you

And you’ve never met me.