Speaking Australian

I'm down the
mountain, down lake
from you this week and
I dream we're rooting.
I end up with
a pash rash
red enough
to scar me. It will
make people
wonder what we've
been up to.

Have I told you lately
that I love you,
farmboy?

For Ben

He says he wants 

to bail out,

leave the village, 

begone -

because he 

doesn't 

fit in. 

I say a hearty, Welcome

to the "fidn't dits!" 

I'm one too, I say 

and tell him 

that if he goes 

I'll miss him. 

So stay, 

I say.

Please 

stay. 

For our young Ben - somewhere on the spectrum - Holden Village 2016 

Touch Me

Belovedness comes my way
via hard hands clasping
my own softer, smaller ones.

Belovedness comes my way
via kisses air blown, thrown,
caught and returned.

Belovedness comes my way
via sparkling eyes lighting up
from across the room.

Belovedness comes my way
via scented, enveloping hugs.

Belovedness comes my way
via lips wrangling kisses and
dancing tongues.

Touch me where belovedness
lives - the warm place we return
to being the beloved again
and again.

Reading With Jan Richardson

Everyone in the room has 

or will experience grief

at some point 

 she promised. 

Her tears did not fall

but a woman's mouth tells all. 

Jan Richardson gave a reading from her forthcoming book, A Cure For Sorrow.  Holden Village - October 2016