Australian born poet, playwright, musician. Latest book is What Else Is There from Main Street Rag. Recently in Cape Rock, Weber Studies, Writers Bloc and the Connecticut Review.

HERE IS SOMETHING THAT WON'T HELP YOU

Your problem is

you don't know when

the world began.

Was it when you

crawled out of the womb,

naked and bloody.

Was it when Mrs Clark

wrote her name

in chalk on the board.

Was it that first kiss.

Was it when you scratched

your knee.

Your life is a virtual big top

of things happening

but you need to know

which is the real stuff

and to do that

you need to tie it back

to a beginning.

This is where I come in

to tell you there is no beginning.

Everything was ever thus

and that's how it got

to be everything.

It spins around you

and it passes through you

and it marches

parallel to your side

and it's over there somewhere

with the geraniums and the iris

or in the big blue eyes of the man

walking the other way.

The little to be known

is not an explanation

unless you think the artificial light

reveals the secrets

of the sun.

Yes, you are in for the long haul...

but you will never know