The Punt
An example of hysteria penetrating the soul
is of a man, a parable of himself,
who emerges from obscurity,
having dispensed with his mind-grown barnacles.
For he has turned his back on his sorrows
since he has grown into firmer stuff,
and is ready to tell the world what it must know.
He had pushed his forty year barrow
along a long pathway; guided by his wits,
nurtured by anger; to put fire in his tell-all passion.
And, having seen what it’s all about,
he goes about knocking on doors and shouts
“you are all but coins sliding down poker machine slots.
And do you not hear the dissonance when you clash?”
He’ll invite those inside to come and learn from him,
to learn the secrets of living in a crowd.
Although some weep, sceptics keep out of range
and remain grateful for a life untroubled
by preaching and its subsequent doubts.
Seeking approval rarely commands real peace.
For enlightenment is tinged with sadness
unless a strange joy comes creeping in.
Those in comfort will count their blessings,
and keep a little of their mystery in reserve.
The Sculpture
Like a naturalist I made close and detailed observations
of a roadkill, a potoroo, fresh dead in grass,
how its death would lead to decay.
Its blood was a scratch on the roadway
soon to be washed away by rain.
The body lay stiff in grass.
The smell of death wafted from its body.
And each day as I passed, the body swelled some more.
It looked almost unimpeachable.
And it was like this for a few days.
And then the gasses burst free.
I missed seeing it happen.
And when the body sunk into itself
the decay really began
and the earth began to take what it needed
and the fur and the skin decomposed.
The organs decomposed.
The days of decomposing work went on.
On into weeks until there were the bones.
And like an archaeologist I took the bones,
and careful not to break anything of its structure
I took the bones home.
And like a mechanical engineer I observed the skeleton,
observed its mechanics, observed its construction.
And like a palaeontologist I took it apart
and studied each individual bone,
how each interconnected with the other.
I studied the skull, the paws, the backbone.
I spent weeks studying
before I recreated the found bones,
making a sculpture like an artist.
