States of Poetry - Poems

States of Poetry 2016 - New South Wales | 'Late Poem' by David Malouf

by David Malouf •

States of Poetry New South Wales - Series One

States of Poetry - Poems

States of Poetry 2016 - New South Wales | 'Late Poem' by David Malouf

by David Malouf •

States of Poetry New South Wales - Series One

A soft October morning,
adagio sostenuto. Some part
of me is still delayed

in sleep. It is one with
night, with daylight
stars, moths that fumble

at a window pane, bewildered
that this tract of sky,
like no other, will not yield.

The coffee cup, double espresso,
is deeper than it looks.
Each sip I take

a dark reaffirmation.
A practice
run for the big sleep.

David Malouf

David Malouf

David Malouf is the internationally acclaimed author of novels including Ransom (2009), The Great World (1990) (winner of the Commonwealth Writers' prize and the Prix Femina Etranger), Remembering Babylon (1993) (winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), An Imaginary Life (1978), Conversations at Curlow Creek (1996), Dream Stuff (2000), Every Move You Make (2006) and his autobiographical classic 12 Edmondstone Street (1985). His The Complete Stories, published in 2008, won the Australia-Asia Literary Award of the same year. His most recent books are A First Place (2014) and The Writing Life (2014). He was born in 1934 and was brought up in Brisbane. David Malouf is the ABR Laureate.