Foxing<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
These books, once new<\/p>\n
have foxed themselves<\/p>\n
and me,<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
adorning the bookshelves<\/p>\n
in my lounging room,<\/p>\n
nestling<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
in the near glow<\/p>\n
of lamplight, rebelling<\/p>\n
against all current<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
medical advice, edging<\/p>\n
quietly towards<\/p>\n
a right good tan.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genesis<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
(For EK)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Your birthday this year<\/p>\n
on the world\u2019s far side<\/p>\n
lets you walk<\/p>\n
amongst remnant<\/p>\n
ancestral footprints<\/p>\n
on paths they once knew<\/p>\n
but wouldn\u2019t know now\u2026<\/p>\n
You are the rediscoverer,<\/p>\n
the turner-back of time,<\/p>\n
the holder of the spirit<\/p>\n
that drew them south,<\/p>\n
that bade them roam<\/p>\n
from their old-world hearths<\/p>\n
to a hemisphere unknown.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Graham Wood lives in Sydney. A former secondary teacher of English, History and Drama, he was also a cinema film and television program classifier, a government Education advisor, and public servant in the area of higher education policy and planning. His poetry has appeared in anthologies and journals, both print and online, in Australia and overseas. Five chapbooks of his poems saw publication with Adelaide\u2019s Ginninderra Press over 2021\u20122022, and his full-length collection Of Moments and Days, in 2023. Graham\u2019s time is otherwise variously spent visiting children and grandchildren overseas, on voluntary advisory work in the field of cancer-related health services, and music composition for the highland bagpipe.<\/p>\n