Bruno Goes Everywhere
  • Home
    • Book Us for Trivia
    • Overview of Bruno's Work
    • Upcoming Events
    • The Three Quarter Time Address
    • Contact Bruno
    • Credits
  • Exhibitions
    • Angelina Gina - Teletubbies Hill
    • FUNRAISER for Moein family
    • Exhibition - Poetry Buses: Pam Kleemann
    • Exhibition - Beautiful East Java: Angelina Gina Gratiana
    • Exhibition - Another Colour of Holland: Angelina Gina Gratiana
    • Exhibition - The Spirit of Rotunda: Pam Kleemann
    • Exhibition - Holland: Angelina Gina Gratiana
    • Exhibition - Randy Igreya & Shuvia Rahma
    • Exhibition - Amanda Piper
  • Audio Interviews
    • Arnold Zable in Maldon
    • Arnold Zable in conversation with Bruno Lettieri
    • Sofie Laguna in Conversation with Bruno
    • Alice Pung and Sher Rill Ng in conversation with Bruno
    • Sally Rippin
    • Helen Garner in Conversation (August 2022)
    • Brian Doyle with James Button at Rotunda (March, 2009)
    • SIX short ORATIONS 'ON LIVING'.
    • Michael Leunig in conversation at Sunbury Literary Feast 2018
    • Helen Garner in conversation at Sunbury Literary Feast 2018
    • Sarah Carroll sings at Sunbury Literary Feast 2018
    • Fr. Bob Maguire in Conversation at Twilight School
    • Maxine Beneba Clarke and Hope Mathumbu in Conversation at Footscray Library's Summer Read
    • Helen Garner & Michael Leunig in Conversation at Toorak Library
    • John Clarke and Bryan Dawe at Rotunda in 2011
    • Arnold Zable in conversation Twilight School
    • Podcasts
  • Filmed Interviews
    • Arnold Table in Conversation with Bruno
    • Michael McGirr in Conversation with Bruno | Part of JBM Fundraiser
    • Alice Pung in Conversation with Bruno (Braybrook Library)
    • Michael McGirr: Stonnington Libraries, Open Book: Ideas to Save Your Life
    • Helen Garner and Bruno via Zoom
    • Behrouz Boochani and Bruno
    • Avinash Weerasekera in conversation with Bruno
    • Alice Pung and Bruno in conversation, hosted by Geelong Libraries, 2021
    • Alice Pung In Conversation
    • Que Mai Phan Nguyen "The Mountains Sing"
    • Maribyrnong Libraries Author Talks at Home: Richard Evans
    • Arnold Zable in conversation at Stonnington Libraries. (Warm thanks to City of Stonnington.)
    • Rosalie Ham in conversation with Bruno. Brought to you by Wyndham Libraries
    • Alice Pung in zoom conversation with Bruno Lettieri
    • Tony Birch IN CONVERSATION at Footscray Library
    • Bruno's Interviews in Video
    • Kutcha Edwards IN SONG/IN CONVERSATION
    • Refugee Week 2019
  • Poetry Bus
    • Exhibition: Poetry Buses
    • Ruffling the Water's Edge: The Original Poetry Bus
    • The Poetry Bus
    • Poetry Bus Films
    • Poems of the Poetry Bus
    • Poems
  • Past Events In Photos
    • Bruno's 70th Birthday
    • Helen Garner and Hannie Rayson at VU Bar
    • JBM Fundraiser with Enza Gandolfo
  • Filmettes
    • In a Class of Their Own
    • Short Indonesian Films
    • Di Atas Awan Short Film
    • The Last Forest at South Malang
  • Commentaries
    • Testimonials for Bruno's work
    • Alice Pung's Testimonial
  • John Clarke in conversation at Twilight School
  • MY ENDURING LOVE AFFAIR WITH WRITING
  • Helen Garner in Conversation (August 2022)
  • Sunbury Rotunda

Poems of the
​Poetry Bus

Kristin Henry

"I was astonished when I saw this bus full of people on a cold rainy night, surprised that poetry could pull them away from warm lounge rooms. I think poets get used to being not all that important to other people. But later in the evening, after a set when we were all walking back to the bus, I overheard a woman saying to her friend, ‘That’s what’s so wonderful about poetry. It says the things you feel but don’t know how to say for yourself.’ And it was like a big hug."
Picture

Your Granddaughter Asks What You Think of Tattoos
 
Careful, you tell yourself. Careful.
This may be some teenage test you can’t afford to fail.
She’s seventeen, and full of surprises.
Her mother – your daughter – is four years gone.
And mostly the two of you bear this injustice
quietly, as though somehow grief is your guilt.
 
Careful, you tell yourself. Do not judge,
on no account sound old.
Aim for neutral, fall back on the law;
tell her she must wait at least a year.
I know, she says, and smiles. But do you want to see?
 
And for just a breath you hesitate
on another question you’re not sure how to answer.
Life has shown you too many wrongs
which can never be corrected.
Do you really need to see another one?
 
But your eyes widen on a miracle
when the girl lifts her shirt to show
the small blue message curling across
the ribs beneath her heart. You recognise the writing,
know the slope and shape of every letter
because it is your daughter’s.
 
Among her mother’s things the child has found a journal,
and copied precisely a line, then had it etched
into her flesh, and her memory and her future.
In her mother’s hand, her mother’s words -
this delicate, elastic, indelible truth –
I will love you always.




​The Way Out
 
Your eyes fly open, and all the rest of you too,
because something’s different today.
You know this as sure as you know
if you’re late again old Frank’s going to give you hell
and the sack. And you’re doing up your uniform
buttons while you practise in the mirror
laughing and breathing to test
how your body will handle escape.
 
On the bus you clutch your secret
and a cheap plastic handbag,
staring goodbye at these dusty streets
and dusty people and up ahead hello at last
to the long black highway where the wind’s
getting ready to blow you some change.
 
You tie your apron for the last time ever,
and firing up the hotplate you imagine
in its sizzle the distant music of traffic jams.
You pour every coffee looking at your watch
and out the window so you’ll always remember
the exact minute your life started.
 
So you recognise your future
when it saunters in - a stringy stranger
wearing faded jeans and stubble,
reading your badge and saying your name
like a dare with a smile that’s as good as a passport -
asking what time you get off work.
 
Under the parking lot’s yellow light
his car is old and so is he.
You slide in beside him on a ripped vinyl seat,
the radio’s sticky with songs you don’t know
and sometimes he hums them while he drives
but you keep your gaze on the road out of town
and the long black highway where the wind’s
getting ready to blow you some change.
 
 
​BIG
 
It’s that minute your stomach knows
the wheels have left the ground.
A 360 degree wild rose sky
 at sunset on the beach.
It’s the Mormon Tabernacle Choir doing Bohemian Rhapsody.
It’s the neck of a giraffe,
Your first taste of boy or pecan pie or girl.
It’s the Berlin Wall coming down,
piano lessons when you’re sixty.
It’s the line of demarcation
                  where ocean and fear get darker.
It’s the guy about to place the last stone in the Pyramid.
It’s an I-know- this- sounds- crazy- but- it- just- might- work
                  pitch to the Committee.
It’s growing an ear of corn, or a child.
It’s Bourbon Street, New Orleans the morning that
                  Obama got elected.
It’s Summer dropping by for that funeral
and how the minor key makes a Tardis of our hearts.
It’s Walt Whitman’s song,
Aurora Australis
boogying at the end of our driveway.
It’s the new view when you finally get glasses,
the orchestra tuning up, the lights going down.
It’s walking toward the smell of gardenias.
​Black Pontiac
 
Usually I don’t desire or need
Anything at all resembling speed
But when I saw that beauty parked outside
I confess I lusted for a ride.
 
It was bright and shiny – it was black.
It was a great big old convertible Pontiac,
Not suitable for someone long of tooth
But it sure did remind me of my youth
 
And how something as simple as a drive
Could make a young girl glad to be alive.
My ringers are remembering the feel
Of curling themselves ‘round a steering wheel,
 
The thrill of smoothly shifting through the gears,
The roaring of the engine in my ears,
The smell of leather – and a cigarette.
(Admittedly that’s one I should forget.)
 
But somewhere in my heart I’m still a child,
And it would be so lovely to feel wild,
Like before my friends and I wore glasses,
Like when all of us had smaller asses.
 
How cool to once again just slip inside
A car like that and take a little ride
From Surrey Hills to right on out of town,
The music turned up loud, the top rolled down.
 
I wouldn’t go too fast – but I wouldn’t go slow.
I’d wear big silver sunnies. I’d let my hair grow
So it could fly behind me in the wind
And the road ahead of me would never end.
  • Home
    • Book Us for Trivia
    • Overview of Bruno's Work
    • Upcoming Events
    • The Three Quarter Time Address
    • Contact Bruno
    • Credits
  • Exhibitions
    • Angelina Gina - Teletubbies Hill
    • FUNRAISER for Moein family
    • Exhibition - Poetry Buses: Pam Kleemann
    • Exhibition - Beautiful East Java: Angelina Gina Gratiana
    • Exhibition - Another Colour of Holland: Angelina Gina Gratiana
    • Exhibition - The Spirit of Rotunda: Pam Kleemann
    • Exhibition - Holland: Angelina Gina Gratiana
    • Exhibition - Randy Igreya & Shuvia Rahma
    • Exhibition - Amanda Piper
  • Audio Interviews
    • Arnold Zable in Maldon
    • Arnold Zable in conversation with Bruno Lettieri
    • Sofie Laguna in Conversation with Bruno
    • Alice Pung and Sher Rill Ng in conversation with Bruno
    • Sally Rippin
    • Helen Garner in Conversation (August 2022)
    • Brian Doyle with James Button at Rotunda (March, 2009)
    • SIX short ORATIONS 'ON LIVING'.
    • Michael Leunig in conversation at Sunbury Literary Feast 2018
    • Helen Garner in conversation at Sunbury Literary Feast 2018
    • Sarah Carroll sings at Sunbury Literary Feast 2018
    • Fr. Bob Maguire in Conversation at Twilight School
    • Maxine Beneba Clarke and Hope Mathumbu in Conversation at Footscray Library's Summer Read
    • Helen Garner & Michael Leunig in Conversation at Toorak Library
    • John Clarke and Bryan Dawe at Rotunda in 2011
    • Arnold Zable in conversation Twilight School
    • Podcasts
  • Filmed Interviews
    • Arnold Table in Conversation with Bruno
    • Michael McGirr in Conversation with Bruno | Part of JBM Fundraiser
    • Alice Pung in Conversation with Bruno (Braybrook Library)
    • Michael McGirr: Stonnington Libraries, Open Book: Ideas to Save Your Life
    • Helen Garner and Bruno via Zoom
    • Behrouz Boochani and Bruno
    • Avinash Weerasekera in conversation with Bruno
    • Alice Pung and Bruno in conversation, hosted by Geelong Libraries, 2021
    • Alice Pung In Conversation
    • Que Mai Phan Nguyen "The Mountains Sing"
    • Maribyrnong Libraries Author Talks at Home: Richard Evans
    • Arnold Zable in conversation at Stonnington Libraries. (Warm thanks to City of Stonnington.)
    • Rosalie Ham in conversation with Bruno. Brought to you by Wyndham Libraries
    • Alice Pung in zoom conversation with Bruno Lettieri
    • Tony Birch IN CONVERSATION at Footscray Library
    • Bruno's Interviews in Video
    • Kutcha Edwards IN SONG/IN CONVERSATION
    • Refugee Week 2019
  • Poetry Bus
    • Exhibition: Poetry Buses
    • Ruffling the Water's Edge: The Original Poetry Bus
    • The Poetry Bus
    • Poetry Bus Films
    • Poems of the Poetry Bus
    • Poems
  • Past Events In Photos
    • Bruno's 70th Birthday
    • Helen Garner and Hannie Rayson at VU Bar
    • JBM Fundraiser with Enza Gandolfo
  • Filmettes
    • In a Class of Their Own
    • Short Indonesian Films
    • Di Atas Awan Short Film
    • The Last Forest at South Malang
  • Commentaries
    • Testimonials for Bruno's work
    • Alice Pung's Testimonial
  • John Clarke in conversation at Twilight School
  • MY ENDURING LOVE AFFAIR WITH WRITING
  • Helen Garner in Conversation (August 2022)
  • Sunbury Rotunda