Jules Leigh Koch

Jules has published four collections of poetry and one chapbook, most recently Stripping Wallpaper from the Sky (Interactive Press, 2015), and has received two SA Literature Grants (2008; 2011). He is one of the poets in the public art works Signs of Life  (Bowen Street, Adelaide) and the Shop 6 Tram Art project (Glenelg tram line). He also has worked as a mentor with writers from the Richard Llewellyn Arts and Disability Trust.

 

Outpost

The mid-afternoon
is brighter

Than a child’s
sketchbook

The pores of sky

Have cracked open
with heat

Above cliffs
gulls circle

Weaving a net
around the sun

Surf slaps pylons

Waves punch
the beach

The jetty is a lone
outpost

Fishermen cast out
their silences

Brush strokes of light

Sift through the jetty’s
warped planks

A gull dives

Dissolves into
water

Yachts are crayon smudges
on the horizon

From Each Goldfish Is Hand Painted

The Man In the Bookshop

The man in the bookshop
can not be easily read

Behind his glasses
there is the littlest
of expressions
and his smile is a rare book

Daily he plays the same
string quartets
on an ancient tape recorder

His shop is always in
semi-darkness
and as orderly as a museum

He claims to know every book
on his shelves
and refers to each author
by their first name

At closing time
he tucks his thoughts away
like a bookmark
in an unfinished novel

Leaves his shop
and enters a world
that is fictional

From Each Goldfish Is Hand Painted

A Wet Night Along Punt Road

Stars eaten by clouds

On lit-streets
daggers of rain
fall

Passing trams
a truck drivers’ fist
is a hammer
changing gears

The moon is half
rusted out

At an intersection
two people are hinged
together

He wipes the rain
like a windscreen wiper
from her face

From Each Goldfish Is Hand Painted