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Remembering Waste

Posted on 30/11/201930/04/2020 by Dean English

they came by bus, 
foot, and taxi,
by pram; the celebrators
happily 
in blue sky, oven 
-baked caucasians
in sunshine.

a little girl 
squatting flat-footed 
on the street 
outside my apartment
lifts her skirt
pulls her underpants
aside and pisses 
on the footpath
before entering
the chapel

while the bells tincture 
lingers and fades like 
the urine 
dissolves on the hot
footpath.

when I finally locate
the flat keys and exit
with towel, barefooted
on to the hot concrete
church is finishing
and the children
who have had their swimming
costumes underneath
are making the four
block walk to the beach.

cigarettes are cheap
and I have cash 
-work, a slowed-
frozen glass lozenge 
of white spirits 
in my shoulder bag, 
and a pipe, & half a dozen
hits left, and the plan
to rehearse the audition
monologues
has again
been abandoned
so that now 
I know
a particular future 
cannot possibly 
hold
the spot open,

not anymore.
I couldn’t’ve held
my breath long
enough anyway
to feel
anything future
dissolve. and I didn’t care,
wouldn’t, for years, 
the beach is pumping 

wave crash
is making cool breeze
and sand-sink

to ankles
is enough for many
in their Bondi bikinis:
bottoms only.

their tan-lined feet
their maculate behinds
crusted with sand.

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6 thoughts on “Remembering Waste”

  1. Pingback: 1illegitimate
  2. Mark Prisco Mark Prisco says:
    10/12/2019 at 1:18 pm

    love this too.
    great closing image, and what a perfect word in this context – “maculate” .

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    1. Dean English Dean English says:
      12/12/2019 at 6:36 am

      cheers, mark…“maculate” was by accident, thought I was shortening immaculate, only to find it was ready to use in its own grammatical accuracy.

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      1. Mark Prisco Mark Prisco says:
        12/12/2019 at 1:33 pm

        so did i! and that would have worked too, but this is even better

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  3. Dean English Dean English says:
    08/12/2019 at 4:46 pm

    Thank you, Emjay

    Log in to Reply
  4. emjay emjay says:
    08/12/2019 at 2:06 pm

    Love this. Thanks for sharing. Vivid. A future possibility let go … dissolving.

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