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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing April 2023
Smokin’, poems by Miriam Hechtman
Smokin’
I want a mountain and the ocean
and a cityscape that lights up the sky
so you can’t see the stars
but then you can
Forgive me
I know it’s vulgar to want the world
to want to fly and land
and then swim with the fishes
I want thunder and lightening
and then a clear day
where I walk with my two bare feet on hot coals into the stream
smokin’
(inspired by Frank O’Hara’s “My Heart”)
And when they cut me open
and when they cut me open
it was an apple core that fell out
from my chest
so old and shrivelled up
at first they thought bodily, human, of man
until they reached my uterus
no longer a holder of life
now a sack of salt
so they turned
(inspired by dara barrois/dixon)
Let the onion cry
Let the onion cry
Let the story read
Let the seagull squawk and eat your fries
Let the telephone ring in the hallway
Let the car overtake you from the right lane
Let the tea go cold
Let the washing wait
Let the weeds make a flower
Let the person down
Let the snail eat, slither
Let the rain fall
And the cup too
Let it break
Let it break
(inspired by Carl Sandburg’s “River Roads”)
© Miriam Hechtman
Miriam Hechtman is an Australian writer, curator, producer and poet. She is the founder and creative director of Poetica, a live poetry and music initiative and editor of The Alphabet of Women (Ginninderra Press 2022). At present, Miriam is also the director of Sydney Jewish Writers Festival. An avid traveller, she is based in Sydney with her husband and two daughters. https://movingtrainsproductions.wordpress.com/