Aground

by JEANNIE HAUGHTON

history in small towns – indigenous stories fixed to barbed wire fences
in the shade of fuel pumps and cabbage trees… cigarette endings
wayside stops – fly on the roadhouse door same fly yesterday

bitumen boomerang curves embracing the landscape – prodigal daughter
she waits – flat whites long blacks on the side sex sporadic as rainfall
sidesteps the filching fingers seeking her arse
daydreams serving the barramundi in his lap

a frill necked lizard hungry for desert heat she sheds bits of herself across years
placates her kids a trip south emoji-kissing the screen – horizon promises
but the stars! the stars! she never grows weary of the brilliant night skies