AT LARGE IN A BIG CITY
Beside a relentless freeway,
which is anything but free and takes
its toll on users and non-users as well,
‘boys’ meet for coffee at Mothers Instinct
with no apostrophe or wives in sight.
They’re old boys now, content to breathe
and able to coast on Old Age Pension.
They laboured long, fathered kids by un-
leashing millions of apostrophes into wives,
had operations via Medicare to fix things
that could have meant never retiring.
Considering current high price of houses
in their suburb, they are now wealthy but
that does not stop them breakfasting
at home before venturing out for second
coffees. Too late to become loose with money,
they leave that to the next generation.
Every boy knows what every other boy
knows – they watch same TV shows –
so, no serious debate. Chuckle, toss gossip,
kid each other, talk sport while picking
at pastries that wives wouldn’t approve.
You’d think their lives had been one long
joke here in big city. Sip that pricey espresso,
chat, zone out then wander home for lunch.
Their wives, the ‘girls’, are elsewhere for
pre-coffee yoga. They also laboured long,
had the babies, kept every body fed.
Fact is women usually outlive men,
perhaps due to mothers’ instinct.
Allan Lake is a migrant poet from Allover, Canada, who now lives in Allover, Australia. He has published poems in 24 countries. His latest chapbook of poems, entitled My Photos of Sicily, was published by Ginninderra Press.
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