Posted in Christmas

Off Duty (Part III)

Posted on by tq1695

When to speak up?
I felt a little chastened by my brother’s indifference
then moved by the big guy’s take on egalitarianism
had decided to say nothing,
then valour thought better of discretion.

I tell him it’s really good thing they’re doing
“ mate,” he booms,
tone and volume seldom heard in a hospital
“ I’m really pleased to be able to do this ”
then waves an arm around
“ it’s not just me mate,
its these guys too
they raised the money to pay for it,
a year’s work mate –
a year of sausage sizzles, bar raffles, quiz nights.”

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Author:

Most of my life has been spent on the bench, occasionally called into the game by extravagance or attenuation. Waiting has turned a loner into a recorder - nondescript and inconsequential, more not noticed than overlooked - the non-vantage point of children not yet considered old enough to understand. Orphaned Islands (Un)poetry is a lifetime of picking anecdotes up and not throwing them away. Stories collected like odds and ends placed in a box in the basement, the garage, the garden shed - uncertain as to what their use might be but knowing that one day there might be one.