Andrea Ockerby: ‘Winter 2021’ and ‘Roland Garros Down Under’

Winter 2021

Midnight. Neon light.
Blackbird with insomnia.
Singing like it’s dawn.

Strange noise in the dark.
Freight train warming-up waiting
For green light signal

Beside the highway
3 am. A lone possum
Finishes his chips.

Narrow alley-way
Sad blue wig and scorned soft toy
Caught in my torch light

On the beach tonight
Making enough noise for ten:
Mad-man riding by.

Night. Station Crossing.
Lights bobbing. Five fast cyclists
Speed by in a row.

Last summer so cold.
Our orb-weaver spider lives
On for next summer.

Andrea Ockerby

Roland Garros Down Under

Midnight in Melbourne
Paris blue sky stage-set for
Our racketed gods.

Hard on the eye that
Red gravel though—nasty
Graze if you fall, too.

Celebrities pose
In the grandstand pretending
The camera’s not there.

Expert commentary
Todd Woodie’s pixie sparkle
Yelena’s wisdom.

French girl bewitching
Floaty aqua skirt twitching
Hammers the ball home.

Don’t go to bed yet
Match about to turn ankle
On Spanish Bull’s sweat.

Final tomorrow
Night—Antipodean grit.
We are champions.

Andrea Ockerby