Granddaughter and grandmother are playing
hide and seek. Grandmother is hiding
behind her daughter’s body. Granddaughter is
flummoxed. All she can see is her mother
standing tall, smiling mischievously.
Grandmother has vanished, gone, melted,
swallowed by the future, the strength and power
of a daughter she poured herself into.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

He’s telling his mate the news on speaker phone.
The English couple overhearing the conversation
do not understand the significance of the moment
but the man’s smiling teeth are dollar coins
and his eyes are an ancient mystery.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

and I wash urine from my penis
and I wash maple syrup from my fingers
and I wash suncreamscreen from my beard
and I wash bears from my eyes
and I wash killer whales from my eyes
and I wash bald eagles from my eyes
and I wash sea lions from my eyes
and I wash bad news from my muscles
with old company in new air.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

I guess some one has to
sing back to the birds
and let them know we’re here.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

The blokes are kicking a ball to one another
on their local beach calling each other
bro. The muscles on their naked chests are
from a different planet. I walk past them,
my brain bursting with conversation
and facts about the invention of the FA Cup
slowly enough in case the ball finds its way
to my feet and I need to return it. It doesn’t.
I am a spectator in the sand, bursting.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

and the man on the bus says,
If you get hit by one of those, you’re a goner.
You laugh and he tells me about the time
his motorbike got hit by a flatbed truck
and he did a 360 flip on to the ground.
A stranger asked him
if he wanted an ambulance but he said no
because he was delivering something
he thinks he probably shouldn’t tell me about
and he just had to get out of there.
The next morning, his legs were pins and needles.
He dragged his body like a slug
through the front door, down the porch steps,
on to his neighbours front yard
and he screamed until he was in hospital
for six weeks. He recommends I read
Geronimo’s biography because that guy knew
how to survive an onslaught.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

I’ll put some raisins in my mayo
and spend the day thinking up
cheaper ways to live.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

and yet he will never
be called a genius.
He can fold Doritos packets
into miniature triangles,
tighter than the minds
of the people who refuse
to open up to the fact
he can turn awkward situations
into a completely different shape.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

because there are daffodils
in every park for it to eat.
Life is slow. The mountains
stand like shells over a city
of retired hares.

© Carl Burkitt 2023

I wonder just how long
the man’s friend by the shore was
and when I feel comfortable
to stop hiding behind jokes
I smell salt in the air
and feel my beard growing where it needs to.
There’s sand in the cuts on my fingers
and my arms feel big enough to carry cargo
or slap the back of a man who needs it.

© Carl Burkitt 2023