Poems from
Scenes & Visions
by Michael Cope

Poetry

Rain
GHAAP
Scenes & Visions
Some Examples of
       Silence
for the time being
Crossing the Desert
back view
Other Poems
Song Lyrics
A Virtual Anthology
YouTube Poems
Cautionary Verses


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Tonight

For my parents, who knew

Car-lights come on in the day end warmth.
Neon still judders in a shop window.
The street is full of sounds. Five people arguing
near the town hall splash loud voices on a white wall.
They know it's going to start tonight.

A woman rounds the corner holding a child
on her hip. Strings of snot slide
over the child's upper lip. She is asleep.
The mother smiles and strokes the head at her neck.
She knows it's going to start tonight.

In the bar they sit with boiled eyes.
There are no women in there. The bartender
pours two beers with one hand, bares his teeth,
takes the money, wipes the bar with a cloth.
They know it's going to start tonight.

In the poolroom behind the bar, men with angry faces
hold wooden cues and stalk around the table.
One drains his drink and wipes a blue marked hand
against his mouth. The room sweats cigarettes and beer.
They know it's going to start tonight.

The paper seller doesn't shout. Cars stop or pass,
white light coming and red light going.
He flicks his smoke into a drain and shifts
his pile of papers to the other arm.
He knows it's going to start tonight.

A man jogs past, his face signifies
either agony or rage. He sways on his hips
as he runs. His shadow swivels around
the streetlights. Reflectors glow on his shoes
He knows it's going to start tonight.

Inside a house behind lace curtains
a family watch television. The blue light
of the set flickers inside their faces
The newsreader's voice walks among the furniture.
They know it's going to start tonight.

Two children on adjacent swings have linked
their legs in tandem, facing each other.
Other children push them, and they shriek
and swoop. Then all tumble into playing catch.
They know it's going to start tonight.

Workers come down from the freeway bridge
carrying tog-bags and talking and laughing.
Others go uphill to the gaps in the world
where they sleep. They gather and talk.
They know it's going to start tonight.

We lie on the evening grass and the children
wheel around us, try to come dangerously close.
The moon is low and yellow and the air is warm
The lights come on in windows.
We know it's going to start tonight.

Mowbray, 16 June 1989