Anudder poem

This poem came from a game we were playing on 'poneme' a poetry list. I wrote it directly after seeing The Widower, a film based on some of Les Murray's poems. The director was there, and Slava Grigorian played guitar 'live' as part of the sound track. When they had an informal chat after the show, they praised the singer/screenwriter, the cinematography, the direction, the series of films and the acting. They didn't mention the wonderful poems that it was based on. I wrote this poem as half review and half metaphoric response to the film and the poetry. I've heard Les read a number of times, hence some of the imagery.

'The Widower' a film based on some of Les Murray Poems


last night a giant possum
was being chased by
a blue heeler across the roof
of les murray’s family home …
a shack in the forest …
just one of the rhythms of his poetry
that skittering scattering sound
of paws on galvanised iron
rattling of fallen tree limbs
knocked about by chasing animals …
maybe a boobook looked on from the forest
and we sat in our deckchairs
in the pine-treed amphitheatre
watching the scurrying
listening to the paws as fingers
plucked out the organised sounds
of an acoustic guitar amplified
for our saturated ears … it was
a cultural event
bringing shack life into a cinema
it was a cultural event bringing
les murray’s poems to the screen
through a screenwriter’s pen
with a voice that played havoc
with the syntax of man and beast …
some of the shots were ‘poetic’
some of the singing pleasant
but the poetry was in
the scurrying claws of the blue heeler
and the worrying snout of the possum