D.J. Huppatz



Bright

Last night burnt a hole in today
my face creased at the leaf debris
it caught. Stop looking for where
the when began. Even willows know.

Placed in hereness, Mt Buffalo,
still smouldering at the edges.
One leafs, to imitate and sedate
a cropped vision. Thus sounding.

Moths cough from the mount’s orbit
on top of a composite, speakers don’t
reveal their sources. The river in a choke-
hold, Mt. Buffalo wraps a disappearing.

Deepening on speed, leaving is over:
purges age here without remainder.



On the Rocks

Yes, this place. Its crescent-shape
lured mercantile bonding confetti on
scales dried from a long journey.

Improving with age, said the landlord.

Unstories haul away before Francis Greenway’s
classical symmetry: fresh mistress of shameless
April keeled on a gust then bricked our daily bread
in warehouse courtyards fitted with cordial planters.

Walkable tourism cultivates admiration for poverty.

Comes comfort and contrivance where HOPE
once stood and waved his mop thrum hair,
where a stick beat the Tank Stream Tune
– equal charm equal joy – though
too many crooked trees stood in the way.

Bitumen is a good cover, said the governor.

Seeding, breeding and geocaching: according
to the latest algorithm, we are still shelving
convictions here. Fresh off the boat, striking measures
by way of laws designed to civilize. So were we still
gittin civil when we hit on that mound of birdshit
in the Pacific? Perhaps some streets can’t be straightened.

And we’re still here, dancing in a retro forest of soundproof
wallpaper we just had installed below the Cahill Expressway.
Fudge follows fudge to try and explain it all away and join
in the chorus of the Formerly Pleasant Island theme song.

Hey! Look out for the bombora, said Bennelong.



D.J. Huppatz is a writer who lives in Melbourne, Australia. He lived in Brooklyn, NY for several years and has been widely published in Australia and the US. His latest poetry collection, Happy Avatar, was published by Puncher & Wattman in 2015.
 
 
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