Keda (b. 1951) was in St Joseph’s Orphanage Largs Bay and Salesians’ College Boarding School at Brooklyn Park, South Australia as a child.

CELLING YOURSELF SHORT (1990)

You’ve been nicked son

collared again,

steely bracelet

where suntanned wrists

should have been,

barred windows

and cells forever unclean;

ten by six

and going nowhere

with lingering aromas

in rooms obscene,

you’ve been nicked son

he was only seventeen.

 

PASTORISED (1990)

I remember those eyes he said,

hands now not wandering

errant in their chaste,

age had not sallowed him

he was handsome

in an evil way,

He left me with frost

this man of cloth

with nothing sorry to say

to a grown man

with whom years before

he had been

so inviolate.

 

IMAGINE THAT (1990)

Another drunken stupor;

the green eyed monster

tore at my hands

until I squeezed it’s throat

and flung it across the room,

small and fragile

it ended it’s flight

against a wall

dropped,

stalled

then ran off

screaming and wailing

like some histrionic banshee

…looked just like my cat

next morning

imagine that.

 

LIKE A SAIL (1992)

Love is like a sail

blowing in the wind

going by,

steals your heart

across the sea

and leaves you

wondering why.

I have yet to find a time

a time outside the storm,

when sails and winds

and going by

have stopped

before the dawn,

when hearts and seas

and wondering why

were never really born,

but still

it’s real

all so real.

 

RELEASE (1996)

Share your life

with this timid soul,

release me

from this loneliness

and give

your waking eyes

and goodnights

to this seeking heart.

References:

“St Joseph’s Orphanage Largs Bay (1970-1960).” Find & Connect, 2011. https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/sa/SE00040 

The Boarding section of the Salesian School (1954-1984).” Find & Connect, 2011. https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/sa/biogs/SE00349b.htm