Michael Farrell

black mountain importer

they originally wanted a white mountain but were hurried into
      something
more grey. these words are on the
step (page) apparently. the oranges are in
the freezer for the visit: it was an exciting
      answer
at parties: are you disencucumbered now

? there was a trope that the gang
shared, there was an entrancing leopard arrayed in fake
cabbage
. a photo opp as stern as a bikie son
      & daughter

. they dream only of the books of america
: avoiding the dippy new york school for the hardeyed
      francophone
southern diarists ... the smell of the
mould as black as les fleurs du mal.
is it midnight yet? im meeting
the importer at midnight – a real person, not

a flake from a funny tobaccy shop. salted fish
      fresh from
the river; were getting too close to the sea
or a corn factory; use that column as a
      marker
, & wade upstream towards venus. oh,

dont tell me i alliterated again, theres no pill
for that i think ... you give me your crazy
      einstein look
, & i pass it along the train to
the other non-readers. wait till we get
that mountain in front of the porch – no more
      embarrassments then

. a final stanza like a saucepan on heat.
no more square coats! favourite lawyers agree. is
it better to be on the money or off (
      like a
track star)? dont you want to know
what my father does? he straightens eels, using
      his
own invention, what a geek.

Michael Farrell recently edited, with Jill Jones, an anthology of Australian homosexual and lesbian poetry, Out Of The Box (Puncher and Wattmann, 2009). His most recent collection of poems is a raiders guide (Giramondo, 2008). A new collection open sesame is forthcoming in the Australian spring, 2010.