the statues painted pink
the statues splashed with red
the now rainbow statues
the whingeing statues
the weeping statues
(“it’s so unfair” they say, those statues,
and write letters to editors
with thick granite pens)
the smashed statues
the graffitied statues
the unstatuesque statues
(reduced to rubble,
useful for the museum’s gardens)
the headless statues
the unconscionable statues
the unrecognisable statues
(only a few knew them before
they were revealed for what they were)
the submarine statues, scaring fish
the many moustached colonial statues
the statues who only looked at horizons
the statues dragged behind vehicles
(roads scholars, those statues)
frisky statues of horses with riders removed
and then we go outside
and picnic, on treed, statueless lawns.

PS Cottier

Listen to PS reading ‘In a section of the museum we find’ (1:13)

 

PS Cottier’s two latest poetry books are Monstrous (Interactive Press) and Utterly (Ginninderra Press).

© text and audio 2020