speech of parts

I don’t know what I metaphor.

I tried ten puns to make her laugh.

No pun in ten did.

I’m a poet! I ejaculated prematurely –

She just left me dangling

a participle, part-disciple, part-adieu, pas de deux,

cut me to the Quink with her secateurs

(non sequitur)

my heart cut up as a found poem

split as an infinitive

I am in the present tense

She, the past, perfect.

Published in BEST AUSTRALIAN POEMS 2005

(Ed. Les Murray, Black Inc.)

and Original Clichés, Ginninderra Press, 2016

rob walker poet