August 24th, 2020Local Lines

She trudged
alone
through swamps of lies
meandered through mergers
of banks
and straddled corporations
agitated
for equality of wages
to save trees
and sacred sites
until skinned of hope
she slept
under
the Leunig tree
She revived when a teapot
clanked
as it fell
onto her billycan
She picked up her swag
whistled to the duck
and followed it
through a desert
where lizard’s toes
had sketched the sand
She marvelled
at cloud formations
birds chirruping
plants that clung to rocks
then caught
a web-thread
and sailed
with spiderling
courage across the continent
until grounded
by the morning’s dawn
drawn dew
She was back to her Holub home

• Gael Elliott

(This poem is a sequence to Miroslav Holub’s poem, Fairy Tale which
describes his house before he goes into the world.)

Gael – Often it is the small things in life that catch Gael’s attention such as slug-slime on a leaf or frost growths on barb wire. She loves the way even in solitude your mind can sail to the edge of the universe and back in a second – especially in this weird time of lockdown.

Poems for Local Lines come predominantly from a group of poets. However, other locals who would like a poem considered for publication can contact Bill Wootton – cottlesbreedge@gmail.com