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| Australia Day | |
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These poems are available in print in John Tranter's Late Night Radio, Polygon Press, Edinburgh, 1998.   Listen to the Poet Read  |
"Lovely, isn't it? The water views? And there's something historical about the Harbour - go on, help yourself, there's heaps more prawns - of course in the old days it was totally unimproved. But they brought in boatloads of crims - and screws, prostitutes, a few politicians to run the show and look after the profits. A set-up built to last." So spoke a Sydney business identity, over lunch on the water - oysters, chardonnay - "Another lobster, love?" - while far below his former partner drifted fathoms deep through the blue gloom, in a concrete suit, to his final bottom-of-the-harbour scheme among the barnacles and the bones dozing in the wavering light. A seagull sailed across a paler blue. The rigging tap-tapped against the mast; nearby, rich kids wasted a weekend on Daddy's yacht. "See that boat? The Sergeant here reckons it's full of buddha sticks, no risk; he's waiting for the appropriate moment to drop over and say g'day. It's gotta be the life of Riley. Go on, have another prawn." |
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Web of Poets | John Tranter | Biography | Poems | Brekdown | Reviews | Books | Copyright | Web Sites | |
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