Paul J Penton – Songwriter

Fargments and thoughts May 17

May 17 sunday walk

Marina

A collection of Suzuki coupes
down by St.Kilda marina
squat little things
must be a car club meeting
they’re gathered around
gesticulating
talking about options for improvement I guess
I note on the way back some of them have a badge
‘cappuccino’
maybe that’s what they are then
Suzuki cappuccinos
right next door is a range of BMW’s
and a couple of Western suburbs poster girls
I’m thinking it’s a photo shoot
one well specked BMW is parked on the boat ramp at an angle
and they’re preparing the girls
for the shoot
plying them with bottles of water
hopefully their orangey tans won’t wash off
and those high school dresses won’t flip up in the wind
or maybe someone might find it exiting
I realise on the way back
it’s another car club
they’ve hired the models for the day
to give the owners the pleasure
of thinking they’ve ‘made it’
to the big time
there’s a line up of Beemers by the time I return
I scoot by and look at the million dollar yachts
reflecting in the water in oily shifting shapes
I note a number of them are for sale
is that the Global Financial Crisis?

Walking

A clear day air slightly frosty
the You-Yangs clearly visible across the bay
not obscured by the city haze

a tot in a pink dress
riding with her father
she wants to ride up onto the recreation field
but he’s got other ideas
a negotiation takes place
and she backs down

undergrowth and shrubs
along the edge of the water
have a rotting musty smell about hem
the same as Phillip Island
where the Mutton birds come to roost

Surprised by how many foreign languages I am hearing today
form South American
to Russian
to German
are they all on holidays?

 
Dogs

Small dog tries to retrieve a stick
right on the edge of the water
part way in
as each wave arrives it lifts its front paws
so it’s almost like a prancing horse
and gets hold of its objective
Greyish West Highland white
with a weight lifter body
thick and shaggy needs a wash
reminds me of a polar bear
some dogs let loose from the leash-
a beagle and a golden retriever
free to run now the beach restrictions lifted
-March to November,
they seem uncertain but exited
A Daschund trots long and fat along the parapet
 the owners must have put it up there
he’s not agile enough to have done it on his own
Footprints
 
soft pads of footprints in the sand
echoes and reminders of what’s been
but now the wind has smoothed out the definition
you wouldn’t know who’s been walking here
all the footprints become equal
all human
all one

Heart

No shortness of breath
no dizzyness
but there’s this pain
just above the right breast
about he same place
as the other on is