Clean Sweep

On coming up Shepherds Hill Road, having
bought a carpet square at Bunnings for the garage

At the corner of my eye
an old woman was sweeping leaves
in her driveway
Bent over
so low
I thought her hair would touch the ground
Not moving
Still as a statue
Like a monument
to all little old ladies
who after reading the death notices
in the daily paper
go out and sweep the autumn leaves away
There’s nothing quite like
a clean sweep
to start the day.

John Neylon is an Adelaide-based art writer, artist and curator and currently lectures in contemporary art history at Adelaide Central School of Art. He is the author of numerous essays and several books on South Australian artists including Robert Hannaford, Greg Johns and Hans Heysen. He is the inaugural art critic for “The Adelaide Review” and writes regularly for that publication.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected].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.