Lied ohne worte: eating out on a Thursday night which is parmi night
See that couple, their bodies, as soft as pears,
Rubenesque and placid, sitting in the bistro of the
Kooringal Hotel? The symmetry of blank stares
holds back the evening’s poker machine laughter.
When the double parmi deal makes its appearance
the pair hold the cutlery with deliberate poise.
Slicing through chicken, their synchronous elegance,
is like a European string section in single voice.
It’s an absorbing performance, this gorgeous slow
movement, played arco across green forests of salad,
around crumbed houses, thatched with chips. Now go
and do likewise, friends, before members draw valid-
ation from track sixty one’s unspoken reflections,
its unnoticed love scenes, its saturated affections.
Lachlan Brown grew up in Macquarie Fields in South West Sydney. He is the author of two books of poetry: Limited Cities (Giramondo, 2012), and Lunar Inheritance (Giramondo, 2017). Lachlan teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga.