Jasmine Lakeside Village
Andrew Menken (University of Newcastle, Australia)
I’ve known this retirement park
since I was a boy; I’d help Dad
carry tools into the little stuffy
caravans to change a tap washer
or fix a sink. I wiped my boots
on doormats and carefully slid
fly screen doors—shut behind me.
With head down, I scurried past
TVs, apologising for a second
wave of interference. I’d swing
Dad’s multigrips back and forth
until they mimicked an orange
and jagged pendulum. My mouth
leaked “are we going home yet?”
till it flooded the room; our truck
attracted last-minute customers
whose P-traps or shower roses
couldn’t wait to be checked first
thing in the morning. Old people
suffered from either short arms
and long pockets or tight asses;
I managed to stifle my giggling
as they struggled and groaned
to sit on lounges. This afternoon
I’m noticing how a mallard stands
out from a flock: its brilliant green
head plunges into a puddle or pops
up under some caravan; Maureen,
with her lively voice and eyes,
explains to me that they spread
lice and then lose their feathers
before freezing to death. I’m still
rummaging through the toolbox
for my hammer when I hear Cliff
shouting by the lake; his friends
cheer as he pulls in another fish.
Cliff tosses it back and lights up
a rollie; the boys share a bladder
of wine. I’ll never forget the time
I finally hit the nail on the head.
Andrew Menken is a twenty-six-year-old postgraduate student at the University of Newcastle, who currently resides on the Central Coast of N.S.W. He is interested in the relationship between poetry and philosophy, and aims to write works that are conversational, yet deeply thought provoking.
