by JENNIFER SUTHERLAND

returning
to my childhood home
a breeze tinkles the windchimes
I can almost hear my mother’s voice
calling us in for dinner

the park fills
with fluorescent birds
at the lantern festival
I disappear like a raven
into the darkness of night

a gaze as shrewd
as summer sun
the drover’s wife
with spirit vast
as country

Prompted by ‘Back Verandah’
by Russell Drysdale, from a set
of paintings seen as linked to
narrative writing by Henry Lawson

spirit animals
at her tattooed heels
following the waterfall
cascade to the valley
the gypsy dancer of Positano

Inspired by ‘Passions’ –
a painting by Vali Myer,
Australian artist & bohemian
2/8/30-12/02/2003