States of Poetry - Poems

'At Table' by Chris Wallace-Crabbe

by Chris Wallace-Crabbe •

States of Poetry Victoria - Series Two

States of Poetry - Poems

'At Table' by Chris Wallace-Crabbe

by Chris Wallace-Crabbe •

States of Poetry Victoria - Series Two

In memory of Graham Little

I scribble in cafes, which inspire
The forms in which I’m able:
Although invited, I‘ve declined
A pizza at that table

For here my good friend slumped, and died
On the inert terrazzo.
I sit across the room, turning
Perhaps a little pazzo,

Having been eastward yesterday
To a further funeral
In a verdure suburb; yet
I hardly knew at all

What people do, who live out there,
Whether they’re all alive.
Well, back I stay, to write in some
Benignly urban dive.

Chris Wallace-Crabbe

Chris Wallace-Crabbe

Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM is the author of more than twenty collections of poetry. His most recent books of verse include The Universe Looks Down (2005), and Telling a Hawk from a Handsaw (2008). He is Professor Emeritus in Culture and Communication at Melbourne University. Also a public speaker and commentator on the visual arts, he specialises in ‘artists’ books’. Read It Again, a volume of critical essays, was published in 2005. Among other awards he has won the Dublin Prize for Arts and Sciences and the Christopher Brennan Award for Literature. His latest book is Rondo (2018).