Ivan Head: Three Poems

London: Jubilee Line at Speed

The Tube is an underground

Trumpet or Trombone,

existential frictive metallic rim;

steel wheel on rail,

wail of tempered line,

roar of its own metallic applause

pressing through mind-the-doors:

a rush of snare drum

and kettle drum with

stick on rim staccato,

a grand chorus of massive voice.

The train is its own movable valve pushing the air,

an exhalation from the underground

an exhilaration for passengers; a left-field satchmo.

Clint Eastwood Elementary USA

In every class room

Boom Boom Boom.

Ivan Head

On being asked to choose my gender from multiple choice on a government form

I think old age is its own gender.

It has its own agenda.

Like signs with indicators that say

The bushfire hazard is low today,

I sense my testosterone fade away.

Ivan Head