Hewett, Dorothy

Still Lives
(excerpt)

1. Uncles and aunts and country cousins
2. all are dead and buried
3. dry as bone dust
4. powdering the wind
5. they sift the dark fields
6. of my mind…
7.  
8. 1
9.  
10. My Aunt Alice
11. wore a ravishing black wig
12. on the Melbourne tram
13. but at home
14. when she went to feed the pigs
15. each evening
16. she wore a plain white cotton cap
17. to cover her sore bald head
18. the pigs in their wooden sties
19. lifted their snouts from the trough
20. they watched her
21. hairless beautiful her scalp on fire
22. carrying their slops
23. through the calm evening air
24. when she lifted the bucket and poured
25. their little eyes glowed
26. they raised their trotters up
27. as if they were praying.
28.  
29. That is how I like to remember Aunt Alice
30. with her worshipful pigs
31. and the bats flying
32. that would never catch
33. in her hair.
34.  
35. 2
36.  
37. The pigs are squealing from their sties
38. they stink they hunger for love
39. they long for dead Aunt Alice
40. who will never come again
41. with her white arms
42. heavy with those beneficent buckets
43. their mild eyes blink they dream
44. of paddocks full of dandelions
45. cold streams fresh earth
46. to roll in clean
47. hogs’ bristles and pink skin.