Three Poems

Piltdown Man

I was seven when the Piltdown Man was shown to be a hoax

It was talked about at school and by many book-learned folks.

Biology teachers were incensed by the dishonesty

I didn’t notice that, I was charmed by the audacity

The fooling of everyone, experts in particular

Arguments, the fragile reputations and the glamour.

The skull and the jaw were from different species

Only an inside man could have fitted such pieces.

I’d pull such a trick in a flash, given the wherewithal.

What’s that say about me? I’d like to pay the world back is all.

Sicily

The plane landed at Palermo

And at the Monreale, I had my pocket picked.

Do you remember Sicily?

Then overland to Agrigento

Through the valley of the Temples, Doric.

The plane landed at Palermo.

Agrigento, birthplace of Luigi Pirandello

And the Christian Catacombs, one body to each niche.

Do you remember Sicily?

At Ragusa we found the Giardino Ilbleo

Where the Siculi hid from the invading Greeks.

The plane landed at Palermo.

At Syracuse we found the Temple of Apollo

And sat in a stone Greek Theatre, where tame birds flicked.

Do you remember Sicily?

Then Mt Etna spat ash at the castle of Milazzo

and we locked our-self indoors in panic.

The plane landed at Palermo.

Do you remember Sicily?

Business

Gina Rinehart and the kids

are on page one

and it’s none of my business.