Pam Maitland lives in Adelaide and works as a writer and editor within an engineering consultancy firm. She got a lot of pleasure from writing these poems and hopes you gain some from reading them.
My Dog
1 At Home
my dog is a tan-haired bounce
of teeth
my dog has glinting brown eyes watches me
with pure concentration
my dog scribbles tan parabolas jumping for a ball
in my hand
my dog fires a volley of barks just as I drift past
the gates of sleep
2 Visiting the River
my dog ricochets up & down steep slopes of the Torrens
gravity uninvented
my dog is a 4-wheel drive he
goes wet places
my dog has a fast idle & slips
straight into overdrive
my dog imagines he can taste the crunch of each and every duck
he keeps trying
my dog is a brown tug boat pulling me
home to berth
my dog disintegrates into tan-
twitching dreams
From Friendly Street No. 17
To the Ocean
it’s a day of movement and ecstacy
as i run suburban corridors
to the ocean
my feet crushing wind
& today i don’t need a walkman
as i run the esplanade
i’m plugged into your power
my runners slapping tar
as your waves slap the horizon
& today i don’t care if it rains
will run dressed in water
let fresh and salt meet
From Friendly Street No. 21