Paul Williamson

 

       is an Australian poet who has published on a broad range

       of topics in numerous magazines and e-zines in Australia,

       New Zealand, USA, Canada, Japan and the UK. His background

       is in Earth Sciences.                 

 

       Collections

       Edge of Southern Bright

       A Hint of Eden

       Along the Forest Corridor

       Ties to Red Hill

       To the Spice Islands

       The DNA Bookshelf

       Moments from Red Hill

      

      

 

       Availability

       Along the Forest Corridor, A Hint of Eden and Edge of

       Southern Bright are available via the Ginninderra Press

       web site. Copies of the books can also be obtained from

       Book Cow Bookshop, Kingston; and nearly all on Amazon Kindle.  

       Moments from Red Hill and Ties to Red Hill can be 

       found via redhillregenerators.org.au.  Botanical Bookshop ACT

       has Ties to Red Hill and Along the Forest Corridor.

                                                                      

       Some poems

                                                                                                                                      

            Near the Edge

       

        Above the road is a rusted sheet iron stable

        with a horse outside; an image from past scattered farms

        near where iron stained clay banks stretched Sydney’s water supply

        piped from a century ago. Father worked a stint there.

 

        On the downhill side market stalls crowd

        the double drive-in theatre normally vacant in daylight.

        Antiques are sold, trash and treasure, pets

        and greasy food, within surfing music from an ageing band.

 

        Polite people slowly trawl technicolour alleys.

        Spanish speaking South Americans offer jewellery;

        a too-thin man sells cassettes;

        families of heavy islanders scan for bargains;

 

        slender African youths flaunt jaunty masking walks

        while an old man and woman show horror-hinting faces;

        Muslim fathers herd sons, all in white robes

        while up the road the English theme pub draws another crowd.  

        Published in Quadrant

 

        Realities

     

        The table top feels solid

        but scientists know it’s from charged electrons.

        The atoms beneath are mostly empty space.

        If you take that space away

        the earth is as big as a sugar cube;

        a heavy sugar cube.

 

        Small particles change to energy and back

        connect and stay connected

        through time and across distance

        and make new connections

        in Einstein’s spooky entanglement.

        If flows of energy along connections

        allow our brains to think

        then what or who else is thinking?

 

        Could a storm burst

        because butterfly wings beat

        a thousand miles away

        to tip dominos of change

        so the future emerges

        like in the Chaos theory we use

        to estimate future weather?

        There might be surprises in lives

        perhaps to answer prayers

        without the need to amaze.

        Published in Eureka Street

      

       A Hint of Eden                                                                       

       

        At the coastal edge south of Batemans Bay

        Humpback whales feed and breech in Springtime

        as fishing fleets work cobalt depths

        filling stores and markets with technicolour catches

        and oyster farms stretch on light turquoise

        near mangrove flats and sandy bays.

        In Summer, storms send racing yachts limping to port

        and grind beaches from rock faces.

 

        Onshore below the misty escarpment clothed with bush

        near Moruya, Bodalla, Narooma and Bermagui

        dairy herds gift cream for cheese                                                                      

        beef cattle fatten, sheep give wool

        log-laden trucks rattle the highway.                                                                 

        artists work and diversely create

        hippies sell in startling colour

        retirees and Centrelink customers settle seaside

        as tourism firms the towns.

 

        The Yuin Nation Salt Water people remain

        but not now in cool-fired hunting landscapes.

        Now Summer brings hot blazes to eucalypts

        crowded by casuarinas, vines and wattle.

        Yet in the early autumn after the summer tourist frenzy

        the coastal strip still conjures thoughts of Eden.   

        Published in Quadrant

 

 

        at a moment                                                                               

        when my eyes long                                                                      

        to drift

        seeking leafy hues

        city lights surround                                                                         

 

        Published in Ribbons (US)

 

        

        Starlight

         The noise is curious

         I am drawn to look

         to ghost through the garden

         in early morning night

         with no moon

         or electric light

         with no clouds or factory haze.

 

         Constellations are bright

         across the acrylic sky.

         Above the horizon a red star

         hovers like a sentry

         while night shines half-day from starlight.

 

         I have seen this sky before

         above a country river.

 

         Published in Magic Cat (UK)

 

           Contact:  paul@paulwilliamson.net

                 

                 

            Copyright: Poems on this website can be copied for private use but not for

            any other purpose without permission  of the author. This is

            required by copyright law.