Junk

Objects for the hard rubbish
Unwanted on the footpaths,
Broken bikes, dead computers.
Hopes discarded.

I keep your cards here
But not sure why.
You loved me once you said.
Hopes tossed aside.

Hearts grow old and hard
Unwanted, not noticed
Broken dreams, dead loves.
Hope long discarded.

The Sox

The devil is in the detail they say,
But she enjoyed the intricacy
Of knitting this detailed pattern.

It was to be socks for him
But he died and now she had
No recipient when finished.

So she was knitting so slowly
As a way of keeping him here.

This Isle

Tasmania

She takes water out for lemon trees and roses
All stressed by a warm and dry autumn.
Glover would need a palette of paler tones
to paint this area now, dry land loses its hues.
What’s happened to this Isle that was greener?
She used to greet summer as a loved friend
Offering respite from rain, frost and chills;
Now she fears summer as a fierce force,
That kills trees that have existed forever
And survived nowhere else but here.
So she waters the lemon trees and roses.

Helen Cameron is a retired academic who has lived since 2009 in Victor Harbor in a house among tall trees by the Hindmarsh River. She has adjunct status with UniSA, where she supervises her PhD students, and continues to write, both poetry and academic papers. Her poetry muse still visits, and with other time on her hands she sometimes paints a few art works.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.