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Thylazine: The Australian Journal of Arts, Ethics & Literature                                                                                                                                    #1/thyla1k-mf AUSTRALIAN POETS SERIES 1 The Poetry of Michael Farrell Selected by Coral Hull [Above] Photo of Michael Farrell by Detlev Jackson, 1997. I the cow behind the throne I horses I enter sandman I hare encounter I the cow behind the throne not something you need to look for the portrait of the sovereign mars the photos its the law the only art permitted as the subjects the only subject therefore its not but the variation ive written on this before in cowardly speculative tones now i affirm while petty orders triple bylaws maintain the sovereign in a cloud of australian big lies the force behind the conquering of newer & greener pastures is her serene bovinity she looks over the gate past the overalled egofigure whose doings must be human or that mysterious epithet humane i flick through the albums vainly for a name shes not so readily contained heavens to betsy she may be saying dave theres more to farming than introducing strains with latin labels to refer to in your rural times monographs devote a paragraph to the evils of i make no bones institutionalised milking throatcutting & i draw a parallel with the unfortunate victimisation of lepers here bells the norm of enforced chastity alternating with festivals of rape things are changing ive no stomachs for such conditions her requirements indeed are blowing out the frame her massive sympathies have me walking the street each day like unfinished melson my skirts about me heedless to passing sexual advances intoning hey hey hey hey horses heart was big to battle with the dragon & fast through the drifts & yellow yellow a field of burdock opens what could these farms do out of the dark a monster appears in this way any direction taken he was so jaunty light in his eyes oh you the sprightliest & between our slightest steps your hair over your forehead from ranches of isolation i follow the sheep path his strutting studied fire on starlight like an admiral at the helm struts a pedantic without a heart the animal times wings & armour his fiery reel the right uplifted foreleg fat haunches & blood or calls their spotted maleness strolls out into the street now feel the curious force to fight for their country sends her driver home dragging the sledge dreaming of space & speed without a human will my heart under your foot below me on the asphalt among horses & angels always on the move enter sandman noone else sleeps under it i tell you he clutched his clutchers & my spirit found its excuse i saved you i hope or believe in spirit from getting your throat cut in the mobile hospital it left my body it couldnt wait at the poetry launch lady h & i exchanged views on the beautiful production oh my what a blessed relief after the earlier mayhem exit like life enter mikes night was it the massacre pure as birds that fly only after all to some a giant greenhouse is a refuge theyre brain damaged & infect me then i stupidly fall asleep with a mosquito & my torch flashes a warning to the gate crashing maniacs wielding knives sharper than a birds beak a bird that peck peck pecks in its tree saving nobody singing nobody a song the poet goes under the name blood & gets his books published on the strength of it is finally being recognised in all countries theres a high rate of homicide theres no connection & no images worth rendering it was like lightning or electrocuting the air the hairs on your head were harmed sparrows fell protesting their stories were never treated seriously theyre lucky in the park asleep the worsts over swept away & ill never see those ghostly killers again hare encounter the hare exhausted by its patronage of a single white man who lacked the joy of for example the unromantic speculators in the bushes even now leaning its elbow on the keyboard drinks wine as if dinnerd been better than the best grass in fact thered been an attack on a cat an unlapped saucer of milk i walked in cradling a dead fox for effect there are no foxes living on these islands the suns antifox & hares are scarce & i perforce have metamorphised more than once for a ball at short notice we conversed using the names wed assumed for this purpose we waltzed in a manner of speaking around a certain subject possible divorce certifiable insanity custody of precocious icecream hounds im a pig when roused wont go home if homes the word for it the hare raises what must pass for a smile a ghost of feeling in the ashes of its emotions ennui theres nothing for it but to make a scene throw the monitor onto the patio or cry im known as the town crier at dawn i see a fox on the lawn a red omen of some sort a wheeled toy designed to break the neck of dark walkers i miss the moon yet again attack the cat again the milks unlapped the hare dreams of youth savoir faire my suits too black my heads too fat such scenarios seem to write themselves Published in Meanjin (Australia) About the Poet Michael Farrell Michael Farrell was born in Bombala, N.S.W. and has lived in Melbourne since 1990. He won the Harri Jones Memorial Prize for 1999, and is an editorial assistant at Meanjin. His poems are forthcoming in Meanjin, Southerly, Overland, Southern Review, Cordite, Verse, and Calyx: 30 Contemporary Australian Poets; he is currently drafting a novel. Michael has two poems and a memoir of Marianne Moore forthcoming in Verse, and has read on 5UV in Adelaide. He has written and directed a play which was performed at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. His major formative literary influences include Joyce, Brecht, Stein and cummings, the surrealists; later O'Hara, Ashbery, Perec and the Language poets. Otherwise he has been greatly influenced by New Musical Express, Yoko Ono, John Cage, Warhol and people like Rauschenberg. Not forgetting movies and Madonna. Michael spent much of his childhood on a farm, the reality coloured by a rural mythology provided by his grandparents and that is the rock upon which the (catholic) church of his poetry is based.    [Above] Photo of Michael Farrell by Detlev Jackson, 1997. I Next I Back I Exit I Thylazine No.1 (March, 2000)