LIVERPOOL
liverpool, where is the city? - the grey platforms
glitter/ cigarette butts, sydney headaches & cultural
nooks/ & loudspeakers all moving backwards/ as we
pull out from town hall/ & slowly make our way home/
to the grand destination of being -
'all stations to
liverpool via granville - first stop central, then
redfern - then all stations to liverpool via
granville'/ all homesick westies board the red
rattlers with elbows & parramatta beanies & scarves
hanging out the windows/
at night after the hoyts
& hungry jacks/ adolescent girls stare nervously
through glass doors into rocking train corridors/
into the shaky sway of empty green carriages -
reebok thieves, masturbators & killers/ & vomit
washing beneath the cabin doors of tired train
drivers, trying not to kill the next suicide on
the tracks/
precious carriages guarded by railway
detectives/ smashing handcuffs against rails/ FEET
OFF THE FUCKING SEATS!/ smashing fists against fare
evaders, seat slashers & train wreckers/ at the end
of the line is liverpool:
where joyce maine is queen/
where the man pops up on the tv screen 'up the
road from baulkham hills', & yells 'let me do it
right for you!'/ liverpool, you dump, you hell hole/
you pollen & pollution collector/ you test tube of
heroin, you bucket of liver/
liverpool, you supermarket
culture, you checkout chick/ you are responsible for
hair gel & hairdressers like 'antons' & 'classiques'/
& donuts & cake shops & fat legs & summer frocks -
rapraprap gear & tracksuits/
liverpool, you sydney
basin basement/ i find the bargains/ i shop at
k-mart & target every day/ liverpool, where 'the
customer is always right', until ripped off/ where
door knockers for the spastic centre get a kick in
the teeth/
liverpool, city of little sympathy &
violent video/ city of passing western suburbs
heros in video ezy aisles/ in between new releases,
pornography, action & horror/
i make eye contact with
an overweight man/ hugging toffee apples, diet coke,
hawaiian crunch & popcorn/ in each other we both see,
we will never come together & we will never leave
this city/ arnold schwarzenegger will make it better/
& a house alarm & a gun licence & crook lock/ &
derryn hinch to shuv it up all the small time crims
& give us all some largeness/ & some good old
fashioned morals & justice/ at least in our own
homes/
'hinchy' nightly at 7.00 & 'maccas' with two
allbeefpattiespecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonions
onasesameseedbun & choosycheesechoosersalwayssay
cheesepleasewhentheychoosethecheeseonthecheese
burgersatmacdonalds -
i learnt that mythology ten
years ago, liverpool, i have never forgotten/ & i
have not forgiven you casula high - you concrete
gaol with your grey face to piss on/
you detention
centre for growth - with the teachers who fuck the
students & the students who go to prison/ casula in
the cow paddocks behind inghams - an appropriate
backdrop for frozen & suffocated chickens/
yep - &
the flannelette shirts & indian skirts/ panel vans,
old holdens & V8s/ & cigarette packets pushed up
beneath the sleeves/ peter jackson's, winfield 25s
& a marijuana earring & what are you smilin' at?/
& why doesn't anybody write poetry about us?/
super
aggressive - traffic mongers - tow trucks - insurance
-pink slips, green slips/ slip over in the factory -
fracture your neck - claim compo, pension - sore back
-pay rego/ pay your own way into revesby workers,
into parents without partners/
& if they overtake
you in the peak hour rush on the hume hwy/ on the
canterbury road thru milperra/ then get out - walk
over - punch 'em thru the window - kick in the
mudguard - it's aluminium/
more carparks than parks,
more sizzlers than books/ & old school friends work
at the pavlova pantry, n.r.m.a./ join the army, the
police force/ or get married in tears in big park
or in the divorce & damnation fires of st lukes/
liverpool, it's good to be home/ dazzled by your
cultural desert/ your childhood, your domestic
violence/ your family victims & survivors/ & the
off yellow glow in suburban backyards/ the starlings,
the sparrows, the hills hoists, the clarke rubber
swimming pools/
the guard dogs on chains/ the
thousands of aviary birds/ bull terriers, dobermans
& german shepherds/ overhead wires & telegraph
poles/ & where is the city?
- the place where
newspaper & tv people come from?/ what is the
aquarius bookshop?/ & how do those people get to sail
on the harbour?/ & should i send my poetry to a
publisher?/
liverpool, you are the shifty hands of
john 'the shoddy mechanic'/ of caryards tuneups &
wreckers/ dyna tune, ultra tune & autoservice/ city
of vacuum cleaner encyclopedia & lawnmower/ & more
liquorlands & TABs than you can lay your damn
pay packet on/
liverpool, city of the damned/ of
lost dreams, tv screens: the unhealthy unwealthy
& unwise of burke's backyard dreaming & the david
jones show/
abusers & losers i'm telling you straight,
'cos i'm a westie': you gotta be rich to live in
sydney - you gotta be smart to go to uni - & you
gotta be famous to be in the movies/
why it takes
half a day for us just to get to the beach/ & sunday
afternoon on the way home/ one single stream of
summer car metal/ & heavy metal blaring from
metallic blue & purple/
on the road past lucas
heights & deadman's creek & thru the meccano lights -
& along the hume hwy & canterbury road via the
heathcote turn off/ into no-man's & no-woman's land |
