'snap' poem today / may change later

up early
to catch autumn

cat fed and quieted
oats in my bowl
coffee steaming
in my cup

I knock
a dictionary over
and it spills
on the factory floor

the hollow ring of its claims
echoes back

I press the button
to start
the assembly line:
the monolingual beast
mutters and purrs
testing its moods
in the morning light

foreman, designer, planner,
I sit at the keyboard to begin
the line kicks in and I mumble

days begin like this
before the world awakes
before deliveries
and telephone calls
before interruptions
before the diary is opened

I mumble and think
and sing a few songs
the factory echoes
with possibilities

autumn is in
the song of a currowong
and lifts off the river
like a mist