Kobus moolman biography of william

Soft man slumped

into a corner of the sky;

opaque sky, distracted by sand

and stone scraping against sun –

the broken shell of a wind

see-sawing across a glass eye.

Soft man slumped

into a corner of the sky,

leaking stray birds

and stuffing.

Bush Fire

Burned sky, black

with smoke stinging

the thin shadows of air.

– A wind that weighs

as much as everything

no longer visible.

A dog on three legs

all along the long edge

of a dark lake barking.

– Out of the black bush

a man walks, carrying

two rusted children’s bicycles.

On the Outskirts

sun’s light surrenders

old stone in a field

light worn ragged where

lip of earth turns up

stump of bone, blackened wood

blade that belongs to rusted iron

and the wind returns

red sand to the scar

stale fumes of a slaughterhouse

twisted wire fence that lets

all the outskirts in.

A rusted drum steams