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<p><b>Malachi Doyle</b> graduated from Monash University in Melbourne. His poems have been published in <i>Sidewalk, Social Alternatives, Cordite, Swintax</i> and <i>Pelt</i>. He is also a drummer and singer/songwriter for the Bula Brothers, the acid-gospel act Apocalypse Riders, and Prick Rice.</p>


<p class="poem">
<b>today & probably tomorrow (snailman)</b><br />
<br />
best (to) retreat in<br />
side my shell 'til such a time<br />
my balance re<br />
turns. you deserve well chosen sym<br />
bols, through movements well timed<br />
<br />
today, my love's a<br />
desperate man's – & so crooked<br />
am i, even in<br />
action is misplaced (&) all<br />
you get is loneliness<br />
</p>


<p class="poem">
<b>hotel/café blues</b><br />
<br />
the more i live, the<br />
weirder i feel, the more i'm sure<br />
they chose the wrong bits /things<br />
to name – (better to have no<br />
words than advertising jingles)<br />
<br />
we will go on /(so)/(but)<br />
ordering beers & smokes – thanks –<br />
& wait for the weather to change<br />
</p>


<p class="poem">
<b>casino</b><br />
<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>not saturday evening, when 80% of the city plays in<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;or nearby, but midmorning, when the place is only 40%<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;full – 10 a.m. on a tuesday or some such</i><br />
<br />
<br />
1.<br />
<br />
the writer thinks:<br />
<br />
a casino play<br />
write doesn't need props – the veil<br />
of cigarette smoke, through<br />
which the actors enter &<br />
exit is already here<br />
<br />
<br />
2.<br />
<br />
the writer thinks:<br />
<br />
the novelist needs no<br />
fancy, just dictation - the<br />
sounds: warring for re<br />
cognition – the bleep music<br />
of pokies with teen lovesongs<br />
<br />
<br />
3.<br />
<br />
the writer thinks:<br />
<br />
watch!: the skyblack ceil<br />
ing dotted with stars the coin<br />
camoflaguing rugs – play<br />
ers sit, dealers stand, extras<br />
who appear for but split seconds<br />
<br />
<br />
4.<br />
<br />
the procession thinks:<br />
<br />
the old theatre say<br />
ing goes: there's no small parts, just<br />
perfomances – drink<br />
waiters, cleaners, store room troll<br />
ey pushers, a mail man...<br />
<br />
<br />
5.<br />
<br />
the mailman thinks:<br />
<br />
each day shouldering<br />
the black bag, i journey through<br />
quiet offices, errie<br />
tunnels, & out into the<br />
stadium – like an ancient marathoner<br />
<br />
<br />
6.<br />
<br />
a man (sitting at a poker machine) thinks:<br />
<br />
money. a young wo<br />
man (eating a burger) thinks:<br />
money. a man in<br />
a red sports jacket, & white<br />
patent leathers thinks: money<br />
<br />
<br />
7.<br />
<br />
the croupier says:<br />
<br />
to him sucking on<br />
the cuban, & all of you<br />
at this roulette ta<br />
ble: last bets! – i wave my hands<br />
over the magicians' wheel<br />
<br />
<br />
8.<br />
<br />
the gambler thinks:<br />
<br />
cigar, you can smoke<br />
yourself – it's number 5, c'<br />
mon sweetie – same numb<br />
er as the collatoral<br />
house - let's get back on that track!<br />
<br />
<br />
9.<br />
<br />
his girlfriend thinks:<br />
<br />
he takes a quick nip –<br />
i'm still the hour glass figure<br />
at his hip for a<br />
tip – to match him drink for drink<br />
i only swallow one sip<br />
<br />
<br />
10.<br />
<br />
the croupier thinks:<br />
<br />
i'm well rehearsed –<br />
a product forged under high<br />
heat at the casino's<br />
college – where clean cut perform<br />
ers with clear minds are turned out<br />
<br />
... doubt your technique? don't! or<br />
meltdown & reshape again...<br />
<br />
<br />
11.<br />
<br />
the drink waiters' school says:<br />
<br />
"drink waiters do this<br />
every clean cut day – be<br />
efficient & pat<br />
ronise – & one in five hun<br />
dred will get a $5k tip"<br />
<br />
<br />
12.<br />
<br />
the mail man thinks:<br />
<br />
dip my well practiced<br />
hand into the bag – & fish<br />
out the 3 letters<br />
for our next bay & dock, bound<br />
in a doubled rubber band<br />
<br />
<br />
13.<br />
<br />
the mail man thinks:<br />
<br />
watch: (as) approaching<br />
the next mail box – in one move, the<br />
sensei will release<br />
th'envelopes from the rubber band's /papers<br />
grasp & bracelet his wrist – whoops!...<br />
<br />
<br />
14.<br />
<br />
the rubber band thinks:<br />
<br />
i don't care where to –<br />
i fly with full sail ! the air's<br />
thick like between dreams<br />
– whoops! looks like i'm headed for<br />
a spinning wheel – though it's slowing<br />
<br />
<br />
15.<br />
<br />
the spinning wheel, slowing, thinks:<br />
<br />
little ball little ball<br />
you are set on number five<br />
feel fate's dizzy vibrations –<br />
hear that man's voice rough with ce<br />
lebration & relax...cease?!<br />
<br />
<br />
16.<br />
<br />
nobody thinks:<br />
<br />
a rubber band from<br />
a dexterious hand & a million<br />
times perfect routine<br />
fouls a roulette ball off its perch<br />
the stopped wheel adjudicates "10 black wins"<br />
<br />
<br />
17.<br />
<br />
the gambler says:<br />
<br />
i don' t believe what's<br />
happ'ning – & the meek voice that<br />
says this can't be mine!<br />
oh, here it comes violent with rage<br />
screaming out <i>what the fuck?!</i><br />
<br />
<br />
18.<br />
the mailman thinks:<br />
<br />
lucky my dili<br />
gent eye can follow chains of eve<br />
nts too quick to catch<br />
& redirect to safe<br />
ty & service excellence<br />
<br />
<br />
19.<br />
<br />
the mailman thinks:<br />
<br />
solely concern my<br />
self with leaving this scene – be<br />
ing absent from mem<br />
ory – quickly & silently<br />
on to the next deliv'ry<br />
<br />
<br />
20.<br />
<br />
the eye thinks:<br />
<br />
i eye of rage spins<br />
quick & then quicker, like a<br />
drill nib, & then quick<br />
er: sound the work songs of the<br />
devils of retribution<br />
<br />
<br />
21.<br />
<br />
the rubberband thinks:<br />
<br />
them hypnotised by<br />
"payback" won't spot materi<br />
al evidence – like<br />
the rubber band (is) in the slut's<br />
drink<br />
– un'er the lemon slice<br />
<br />
<br />
22.<br />
<br />
the girlfriend thinks:<br />
<br />
next day, no problems get<br />
ting more cash – plenty more house<br />
s to wager – no,<br />
'greater concern is "finding /of<br />
the fucker responsible!"<br />
<br />
<br />
23.<br />
<br />
the gambler thinks:<br />
<br />
don't tell me what hap<br />
pened was god (& even if<br />
it was!), i'll find the<br />
fucker responsible, sweet<br />
heart, & fuck them responseless<br />
<br />
<br />
24.<br />
<br />
the girlfriend thinks:<br />
<br />
angry men have their ad<br />
vantages – if i top up<br />
the bag with cheap co<br />
caine he should be too absent<br />
to notice the good shit's gone?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
**<br />
<br />
sunny spring afternoon<br />
– watching the city across<br />
the bay hide & peek /seek<br />
through the mist like an imag<br />
inary thing... & vanish<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
**<br />
<br />
perhaps once like bloss<br />
om, i talked all through one night<br />
not stopping for ov<br />
er a week on the subject<br />
of wet bark 'gainst a pale sky<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
**<br />
<br />
once upon a time<br />
there was a really bright star.<br />
he was misunder<br />
stood or unable to be<br />
appreciated by the<br />
<br />
dim wits. but eventual<br />
ly he got recognised as<br />
the one & only<br />
beacon & the other lights<br />
happily receded.<br />
</p>

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