23: CHILDREN OF MALLEY

Veronica Malley: Cruise

Fated to have a poem
For a face. Like a horse
Stumbling through blue light
Discos with a fake
Erection for the press.
It's a pinnacle of sorts,
Dudes. (Reeves ventriloquised
Me). If this is the ocean -
Pass the salt. I'm on fire
Etc.: no sleep till Spring-
Steen. Every few days I come
Here at the mountains; to be
With the giants, think about
The small things that make me big.

VERONICA MALLEY is a retired schoolteacher. She lives with her companion in an inner suburb of Melbourne. Of the Romantics she prefers Byron; she is writing a long work entitled 'Peas and cantos'.

REVEALED!

As reported on Cordite News Explosion, we're moved and astonished to admit that we didn't pick Michael Farrell as the author of this so-called poem.