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Poem: At Season’s Turn

This week’s Poet’s Corner sees Phil Saunders reflect on a season best left behind.

May 20, 2020, updated May 20, 2020
Photo: Mayumi Kataoka / Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Mayumi Kataoka / Wikimedia Commons

At Season’s Turn

a Mitcham Hills view

At season’s turn
a moment of rest between shed and house
favourite drink in hand, cheese platter close by;
watching the breeze play through the valley
the structures of suburban life peeking through the green;
admiring the patterned bricks
a replacement for ugly roughness,
the tank unloved for thirty years
wondering why it missed out the makeover;
pet magpies delighting in the bath
no other would dare approach;
strips of eucalypt skin dangling,
expectantly awaiting release,
revealing fresh smoothness;
across the cobalt blue the wispy trail
showing travellers’ past but not their future,
drifting cumulus banks of white fluffiness
their knowledge hidden;
distant siren hinting of stranger’s distress,
faint smell of smoke from distant burn off
an unbidden reminder of a fortnight of fear
for island family;
indelible on memory
another too harsh summer best left behind
to let us face autumn’s winter.

Phil Saunders has been based in Adelaide since high school days, with forays into Melbourne, Christchurch and Sydney, and is currently a consultant in governance and operations quality control across disability and aged care. Writing has been at the core of his professional and personal life as a script writer, copy writer, policy officer, magazine and report editor and poet.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected].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