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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing, January 2024
Dear Mouse-Pad, poems by Lorraine Gibson.
Discrepancy
I wish I looked how I feel
you said,
Real black
black enough
to stand on one leg
wearing a cock rag
waving a spear
at all these culture vulture
seeking tourists.
What do you mean?
I said.
You wouldn’t understand
you said—enough
—just black enough.
Poor Thing
Winter-ice portends more tedium.
An evening’s inner-city snow is
growled-down by bitter cold.
Liability has again thrust burdens
onto supplicant hands.
Back street leaves shiver
through ginnels and snickets.
I sent the invitations you
did not receive. So sorry
to leave you choking down
your hubris. Like many
vulnerable humans
the answer to guilty or not
is constantly shifting.
Dear Mouse-Pad
Small rectangle pillow
for the weary writer
such comfort
you bring
to my slim wrist
each morning
in the spring
in winter
in every season
here upon my desk
you cherished, water-proof
spawn of a silicone machine.
Sweet little mouse pad,
I lean into your colours
the black and gold of you
the skin and sun of you
the hot red earth bearing
Aboriginal shapes and symbols
waterholes and campsites
rocks and rivers,
reminders
of being outdoors—not
sitting writing to what and
for whom is often unclear.
Some days
I skate across your surface
—tiny ice-rink
for a hairless mouse.
Left and right—forward
back—round in circles
in some manic dance.
You lead me on a path
towards elusive metaphors
and hidden similes.
I shape-shift and twist
around your willing surface
seeking inspiration.
Some days you
are Loki the trickster
promising Valhalla
only to pause somewhere
between the sticky work of
coffee stains and procrastination.
© Lorraine Gibson
Lorraine Gibson is a Scottish Australian poet and writer living in regional Australia. Since retiring from her work as a Cultural Anthropologist she has been drawn to writing poetry. Her poetry appears in journals, anthologies and magazines including: Meniscus, The Galway Review, Hecate, Eureka St, Prole, Live Encounters, Backstory, Brushstokes III, Poetry for The Planet, Booranga FourW, Book of Matches, Tarot, and Last Stanza. In 2023 she was shortlisted for Calanthe Press Open Poetry Prize. Lorraine has a PhD. in Anthropology from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Her book ‘We Don’t Do Dots: Aboriginal Art and Culture in Wilcannia, New South Wales’ is published in the UK by Sean Kingston Press.