Saturday, December 10, 2005

God on a Bicycle
for John Forbes



A handful of snow turns into a cloud
shaped like a camel. then a weasel, and briefly
troubles Carlton's sidewalk restaurateurs
before cruising on to Port Phillip Bay
to ruin things for the weekend sailors —
or is all this just a wish
projected from the forehead of the cyclist weaving
through the traffic outside 'Readings' bookshop?

Soon, he says, he'll return to his true vocation:
icing complex jeremiads on a wedding cake
so the young couple on top of the confectionery
get a bit of a fright before the gin and tonics.

Right now he's
bouncing off a silver Volvo as it makes the turn
into the driveway of 'Gino's Gents Apparel' —
first you hear the thump, then the car tyres
crunching to a stop on the gravel made up of
countless chips of genuine Carrara marble.


John Tranter

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