Slipping through the back door of Parliament House
My courier bag glides down the ministerial wing
I see………………………………………………………………….
Paper to be sorted; TV faces by an elevator;
A painting of the Dreamtime, on the days I take the stairs.

There’s the secretary who always buys
the fundraiser chocolates (her husband likes TimeOut)
A row of chiselled cassowary heads to exchange nods with in passing
And a beautiful Elton Wirri watercolour hanging
in a minister’s office, though his portfolio is far from the Arts

Dotted dents are visible in the polished wooden floors
when the sunlight glances off them……………………………
a million tiny stiletto heel steps
as women try again, and again
to carve themselves out a home here………………………….

I am not sure I belong in this country house.
But when, for a moment, there’s no one around
To wonder why I’m pausing; why
The wheels on the bag are halted
with no minister’s office in sight

I lean in the warm sunlight streaming into the glass walkway
And watch the skirts of the foliage blowing against the walls
The reflections of gum leaves dancing on the great glass doors
Before returning to my rounds.
……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Rosalind Moran

 

Rosalind Moran has written for anthologies, websites, and journals including Meanjin and Overland. She co-founded Cicerone Journal and was awarded 2018 Undergraduate Awards Global Winner for her research into biopics. You can find more of her work through her website, Ganymede’s Mirror.

© 2019