Once again last night I saw it,
the digging in, the second wind,
that shoulder-hunch of resolution,
and how with chorus three or four
he’s hitting on the one,
with maybe just a little run
to set the whole thing up,
the way those unheard sixteen bars
(or twelve or thirty-two)
stretch out in all their pure potential.
This time, yes, he’ll get it right
beyond the imperfections;
this time it will be transcendent,
bringing back for all of us,
grateful at our scattered tables,
a few bars of the infinite.
Geoff Page is based in Canberra and has published twenty-four collections of poetry as well as two novels and five verse novels. His recent books include Gods and Uncles (Pitt Street Poetry 2015), Hard Horizons (Pitt Street Poetry 2017). His Elegy for Emily: a verse biography (Puncher & Wattmann) and In medias res (Pitt Street Poetry) were published in 2019. He also reviews Australian poetry extensively and has run monthly poetry readings and jazz concerts in Canberra for many years. www.geoffpagepoet.com.au