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Phlegmatica
 
Phlegmatic- (a) not easily excited to action or emotion (b) cool or self possessed
 
                 1
                 Braced in the phlegmatic, transitory world of 
                  Sutherland Train Station a computer generated
                       voice is activated:
 
                 In case of emergency, please use the Help Point in the Night Safe Area
 
                 Etched in my notebook more reliable than truth or memory 
                        I reread a list of things I need to do to pursue my latest project-
 
                 shovel, hammer, wood, nails, new Salvo suit, black shoes, hair shirt, map…
 
                 The sky spits on the tracks 
                     & on the grey anonymous rabble of pigeons,
                  the stained wall before me awash
                     with the faecal ooze cataloguing decades 
                             of incessantly non-descript activity: like indigenous waste
                    & directly above 
                               on the steel crossbeams, for the comfort of commuters, 
                   are embedded
                           rows upon rows
                   of bird deterrent needles the length of fingers   
 
                 2
                 The vegetable plot is soft, black   cornucopic-
                      easy workings for the shovel.
                 At dusk, soothed by my dark labours
                   I lay deep within the hole
                          listening to the subtle nuances
                                      & rhythms of my heart-
                     for any variant signal,
                 however slight       which will help
                   in my ongoing ruminations 
                                        about the temporal:
 
                    Is this life- ‘death in life’ or ‘life in death’?

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