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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Special Australian Edition August 2023
The Time It Takes , poem John Robert Grogan.
The Time It Takes
Cicadas serenade the setting sun,
a cappella for the heat and the long
days. I dwell on my inherent love
for this evening’s air, the mysteries
of the flightful, and the twilight
creeping in above the washing line.
A rimy thought climbs atop a soapbox
sings for attention, and before I wash
the sea salt and sunset from my scales
I am forced to remind winter
of the gestation still there for us all,
how recent years need escaping.
I only just embraced the holidays,
dropped the workplace nine hours
up the coast and started living once again.
The firm would have us think our time, as theirs,
have us waste each precious moment and then,
we’d be on a rope, guilty for considering bliss.
Don’t forget the unspeakable,
found in the veins of the paperbarks,
and the unfolding clover to the light.
We will find ourselves, high in the wind
beneath the sea eagles, in the quiet
between heartbeats,
the origins of pages and the rising sun.
© John Robert Grogan
John Robert Grogan (aka: JR) is an Irish-Australian poet based in Sydney, Australia. Life in country Ireland and his global wanderings have cultivated a curiosity and love for the natural world, and the connectivity of all things.