Poem: Getting the Electricity On
Books & Poetry
In this week’s Poet’s Corner, Katherine Gallagher recalls a childhood and adolescence spent against an Australian farming backdrop of the 1940s and ’50s.
Getting the Electricity On
The farm has changed, face-lifted
since we put away the lamps
or hung them up with lanterns, as antiques.
The house is new-veined, lush.
Getting the current switched through –
such fever, a district-do to celebrate:
We’ll be like the townsfolk now, we sang.
My mother saw the world transformed
by a washing-machine and fridge.
My father, caught by progress in a skein
that swept about his ears,
tracked voyages round the farm
reassured by the sameness of the stars
and lanterns lighting his mind.
Leaving
we watched seasons
seep into our skins
saw the seasons fail
fought them
now we find ourselves
packing once more
choosing a direction
the sky weightless
tracks ribboning
before our eyes
the cart piled ready
we scratch final messages
wedge ourselves on board
elbows jarring our sides
suddenly the driver
jerking the reins in
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hard
as the load tilts
and crockery
starts to break on itself
Katherine Gallagher is a leading Australian poet. She was born in the Victorian Goldfields town of Maldon and grew up on a farm in the nearby Eastville district, where she attended a one-teacher school. She gained her BA and Diploma of Education from Melbourne University, and left Australia in 1969, moving first to London, then to Paris, where she taught English. She returned to London in 1979, where she has lived since. Gallagher retains strong connections to Australia, as “an Australian poet resident in the UK”. Among her many publications have been eight collections of poetry, published in both the UK and Australia, and her translations of French poet Jean-Jacques Celly. Among her awards have been an Australian Literature Board Fellowship in 1978, a Royal Literary Fund Award in 2000, and a London Society of Authors’ Foundation Award in 2008. Gallagher is active in poetry mentoring in London, and more of her work can be found here.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. A poetry book will be awarded to each contributor.
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