Live Encounters Poetry & Writing, Special Edition on Humour June 2024.
Literati, poem by Suzi Mezei.
Literati
The woman with the blue hair
steals drinks from deserted tables,
locks her lips ‘round
the cold bottle holes of others,
quaffs their grog and saliva.
But don’t the crowd love it?
She’s like The Cat
in To Catch A Thief,
teeth like Grace Kelly’s pearls,
small and shapely.
There’s a book of haiku
with her name on the cover,
she’s booked for a poetry slam in Berlin,
(some respite from a dank Northcote flat
that smells like stale bread and weed).
This is the literary world, she warns,
only the remarkable succeed.
She eyes me,
tries to conceal her doubt,
the ash tip of her fag
crashes like dead conversation
on a scarred carpet,
so what’s your gimmick?
She probes.
© Suzi Mezei
Suzi Mezei is a Sri Lankan born Australian writer, living on the Boonwurrung land. Her work appears in Australia and overseas in anthologies and journals including Island, Best of Australian Poetry, Aniko, Hecate, Cordite, Catchment, Folkways, Storm and Detours. Her prizes include an Artist’s Residency. She has written for stage and podcast.