REDGATE
by Robert Wood

REDGATE

Where carrots and cabbages
and ships hauled over sand and sound

where they remarked that
the colour was always green, somehow, and
the mushrooms were never found

where the twilight was molasses
because we lost our matches,

that was where they came to
and we knew, somehow, that their bones and wings would be laid there
when all the world found out.

Redgate 2

They know goannas and diamonds.

They know
committees of possum skin cloak legislations.

They know how to walk from coast to coast from capitals both.
They know where roughly the waves come in.

They know feathers and messages and pearl shells
and love marriages in the islands to the north that surround themselves with silk.

They know more, and, we talk
opening out to the law
knowing that salt is lighter than snow.

About the Author:

Robert Wood is interested in place, identity and landscape. He has held fellowships in Australia and the United States. Robert is currently the Chair of PEN Perth. You can find out more at: www.robertdwood.net