From: ern malleyscrub 16/01/2002 19:46:18
Subject: australin poe- tree post id: 30897
The Other Womans song


I tidy up before he arrives,
put away my womens magazines and
poetry and scribbly drawings
I wouldn't tell him I love him,
some things are better left unsaid
He doesn't laugh so much now,
his wife is playing with his head
so I keep everthing simple,
try to make him happy,
and when we find our way to bed
I ignore the hurt look he hides
with more than a strong heart can bear.

The world is outside
when we hold ourselves wrapped
in this fragile laughter
and flesh warm trap
we hold back the tide
of the scorn of discovery
our friends do not know
and it seems easy to hide
and yet I long to breathe the air
of public scandal and disgrace
even if it blows lilliputian winds
our love may at last
show its face.


From: ghostgummer 16/01/2002 20:34:12
Subject: re: australin poe- tree post id: 30920

search me
and the memories
i have kept
and never neatly placed with
hesitation on the nature strip
one hard rubbish collection day

search me
and the places
i go these days with
no photos on the mantle
and no friends
remain to say
g'day
do you remember the day?

search me
my face my
hand where i hold
it not
at least they are clean
except for the corners
where no gaze lingers
quite long enough to see

search me
but you will not
find
for in the spare room
on top of the wardrobe
in a green shoebox
next to taxpack 96
lies my heart


From: G-wiz 17/01/2002 18:35:58
Subject: re: australin poe- tree post id: 31210
Poe-tree


"Terrence, this is stupid stuff:
You eat your victuals fast enough;
There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear,
To see the rate you drink your beer.
But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,
It gives a chap the belly ache.
The cow, the old cow, she is dead;
It sleeps well the horned head:
We poor lads, 'tis our turn now
To hear such tunes as killed the cow.
Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme
Your friends to death before their time
Moping Melancholy mad:
Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad."

Why if 'tis dancing you would be,
There's brisker pipes than poetry.
Say, for what were hop-yards meant,
Or why was Burton built on Trent?
Oh many a peer of England Brews
Livelier liquor than the muse ,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.
Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think:
Look into the pewter pot
To see the world as the world's not.
And faith, 'tis pleasant till 'tis past:
The mischief is that 'twill not last.
Oh I have been to Ludlow fair
And left my necktie God knows where,
And carried half-way home or near,
Pints and Quarts of Ludlow beer:
Then the world seemed none so bad,
And I myself a sterling lad;
And down in lovely much I've lain,
Happy till I woke again.Till I saw the morning sky:
Heigho, the tale was all a lie;
The world, it was the old world yet,
I was I, my things were wet,
And nothing now remained to do
But begin the game anew.

Therefore, since the world has still
Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while sun and moon endure
Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
I'd face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good.
'tis true, the stuff I bring for sale
Is not so brisk a brew as ale:
Out of a stem that scored the hand
I wrung it in a weary land.
But take it: if the smack is sour,
The better for the embittered hour;
It should do good to heart and head
When your soul is in my sould's stead;
And I will friend you, if I may,
In the dark and cloudy day.

There was a king reigned in the East:
There, when kings will sit to feast,
They get their fill before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
He gathered all that springs to birth
From the many-venomed earth;
First a little, thence to more,
He sampled all her killing store;
And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
Sate the king when healths went rough.
They put arsenic in his meat
And stared aghast to watch him eat;
They poured strychnine in his cup
And shook to see him drink it up:
They shook to see him drink it up:
They shook, they stared as white's their shirt:
Them it was their poison hurt.
- I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.


--A.E Housman

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