Pemberton

by Brenton Rossow

the damp hand of a woodturner
smoke
hanging over the town
as the buzzsaws rest

lunch-time
at the mill

the lopsided brown park bench
sitting in buffalo grass
under a pine tree
not far from the railway tracks

the chicken hut
selling corncobs
smothered in butter

the alley way;
gum-tree
dropping
red flowers
upon empty boxes
behind the supermarket

the park
with an eighty-year-old
rose garden

the pub;
two dart boards
and a pair of buffalo horns
shadowing the cloakroom

the taste of black river lobster
and artificial coconut slithers

the faded blue handbag
of a woman who
remembers Perry Como

a town where Barry Burnsdown
crashed his car into a traffic light

a town where locals
have barbeques
and invite just about anybody

a town in which
a visiting
Japanese boy
wrestled with amebic meningitis
he contracted
from the swimming pool
before succumbing
to the mucus in his brain

a place
of afternoon train whistles
and generations
of families
who pronounce
simple words incorrectly

a town in which nobody
understands
The Book of John

a town
that visits me
late at night
now and then

my old love Pemberton

Brenton Rossow is a filmmaker, poet, and musician who returned to Perth, Western Australia after 14 years in Southeast Asia. He recently produced a feature length documentary called Shanghainese Parklife: Cultivating the Taoist body and an audio-visual meditation inspired by Taoism and discarded park junk titled Clouds and 4 Cigarettes. Rossow is currently studying a PhD of Philosophy at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia. He can be contacted at brossow@our.ecu.edu.au.