April 30th, 2023Local Lines

Words: Bill Wootton

Poetry collection launch
Pushing my own barrow here, I am chuffed to announce that Ross Gillett
will launch Watch, my new poetry collection, at Radius Arts, 76 Main Road,
Hepburn Springs on Saturday, May 6, from 3pm-5pm. All welcome.
Here is the title poem:

Watch
Face the size of the newly released ten cent bit
the watch Grandma Beat gave me for my tenth birthday
was just right for my narrow wrist
A thin red second hand jerked over solid black numbers
Luminous lime on skeletal gold
outlined the prime movers
The brown leather band was stiff and the buckle flimsy
but whizzo was its presentation in a crimson Bevilles box
which closed with a soft huff
Long ago the watch was left in a squash change room
but the box is still in fine order
home to badges also once worn
No Nukes The Clash Legalise it
and already obsolete –
a pea-green iPod nano
Time back then was on everybody’s hands
Pre-digital creatures we were
Wrist ready
Does it mean anything now to tap
on your forearm interrogatively?
Grandma Beat ran out of time a year after gifting me
The old box having seen off its ticker within
may yet outlive
its worn wearer