Max having a pain in one's nether region can be no joke especially when sitting--commissos P
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From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of cooee
Sent: 11 May 2005 00:56
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Subject: snap
Tooth and Pile: a Travelogue
A filling vanished from a tooth (well back),
into which my tongue kept prying.
But before taking it to be fixed,
I took it on holiday with me and The Pile.
In the total black of night and sleep
a pinpoint of pain pricked me awake,
a tiny flame in the nether region.
But the tooth didn¹t ache.
They went on holiday with me:
three weeks, in every soft strange bed
I was the Princess, the pile the Pea;
every drive in the rented car
through each blissful panorama
of vineyards, beaches, alpine grandeurs,
riven and rent by a tiny pain.
Cruising the Pacific Ocean swell,
some on the whale-tour gaped in motion-
sickness bags, unwell. I held myself in.
While Kaikoura¹s
mountain snows shone unmelted,
our boatload of cameras
snapped as sperm whales tilted
their flukes and dived, or basked blowing
spume up into rainbows glowing,
while I ached on.
That Polish Pope succumbed
finally in the Vatican,
was mass-hysterically mourned,
a German Pope emerged,
crowding from the news
Baghdad atrocities,
while I ached on.
North and south, both islands
Auckland to Oamaru we went,
far from Œboth ends¹
so far from enough.
Next time we may start at Bluff,
New Zealand¹s back entrance.
In my mind¹s eye I see a beckoning
beacon glowing red.
Provided my pain is gone,
we¹ll lodge each night
in some accommodating pile
of pale lemon limestone
or rough-hewn granite,
serenely sleeping tight.
I held myself in
and held my tongue, waiting
for the bump and twinge
to subside in vain.
Prince Charles got married again.
Returned trans-Tasman,
I bided more time.
First I took my tooth to be fixed
(by a charming woman dentist).
And now at last I tell my wife
the secret of The Pile.
Why the long delay?
Something to do with the holiday,
and being a reticent male.
I¹m taking The Tube from its carton;
the journey is done;
my body has come home;
I read the words:
ŒRectinol: For temporary reliefŠ¹
The word Œpiles¹ nowhere appears.
And Œtemporary¹ ?
oy vey, oh my.
Max Richards
North Balwyn, Melbourne
10am, Wednesday 11 May 2005
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