Don College
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87-121 Watkinson St
Devonport TAS 7310
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Email: don.college@education.tas.gov.au
Phone: 03 6424 0200

Poems - English Writing 3C Students - Gas Station

gas_station.jpg

Edward Hopper, Gas, 1940, oil on canvas, Chicago Art Institute

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Gas Station

 

Out of a blue sedan,

he fiddles with the pump

and leans against the sombre metal,

bourbon on his breath,

grief muddying his footsteps.

 

The echo of cigarettes.

His skin hangs like a dressing gown;

her shadow aches under his eyelids.        

Levis bunched around his waist;

new holes in his belt,

poked by a blunt nail.

 

Soon he will open the front gate,

trudge past the daffodils and calendulas,

and scuff his leather boots                                         

on the brick path,

stitched with a lace of weeds.

 

The lock will click,

and the door will creak open.

He will unlace his boots

and unload his coat,

like a boneless body with woollen skin.

 

But now,

he drags himself past the fridge of ice-creams,

and the smiling magazines,

choosing white bread,
tomato sauce,

and a can of cauliflower soup.

 

Josie Summers