Bio
Michael Mintrom lives in Melbourne. He has recently published poetry in various literary journals including Cordite, The Drabble, Ekphrastic Review, Meniscus, Quadrant, Rabbit Poetry, and takahē. He is a past winner of the University of Canterbury's MacMillan Brown Prize for Writers.
Michael Mintrom
The Adjournment
Abandoned, the capitol sprawls over
summer lawns. Children play in trees. Parents
share their stories, making a mosaic.
I remember his sleek black car, his suit,
the uniform. For the air display, we
squeezed onto trains, thronged past the library,
pushed up the steps. A grotesque veteran
sold opera glasses. Youth group members –
white-shirted, red-sashed – paraded.
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat went their drums.
I leaned to touch them; to join the razzmatazz.
Politics is a lethal game. Inside now,
death smells taint the rotunda, ghosts replay
futile debates. And the dashing puppet's gone.