Husband Material
He ushered some, bedtime, and nestled,
down, making attendance, treasured,
everyday, reality, I’m, agog, lowkey.
elkishly, roughed, interior audio, ‘Landslide’ /
‘Hush’. Sadomasochistic, Beddoes adulator,
nectarine, doctrinaire / mango addicted,
trekked, equally round islands, after
legumes, hardy, ugly.
Band alerted, no dice, marrying, at the Eden,
RSL, I aspired, lesser, honeymoon, until
sixty. Aviary now deserted, my attendance,
tamed eagles, rooks, inspected Ando, leased,
‘Humble’, urged sanctuary, bird-o-rama.
supervision, by aunts.
Daggy, movie attendance, tiresome, eczema
rash, in Amsterdam, looking haggard,
unpublished, she bought, aviation novel.
upholster, shoulder, block, any, nuisance
dates. Accessories, tonight, emerald / ruby,
inkstand, amethyst lipstick, hot, umber,
shower, bag, Aspen, novelty, dildo / mask.
They entreated, read indirectly, affectedly,
lazily, hired us, supported bureaucracy, art,
never, did matter, administratively.
AIDS nerds, demanded, more articulated,
then. Reined in, a little, he urged, suggesting,
bad attitudes, needed diplomatic, muscle,
affluence, to express.
Insular / authentic, leaping hounds, utterly,
spirited, beyond anything, nervous,
disposition, malleable, acorn / tree
evaluator, retraining. ‘Ah! Leah!’,
housebound, unselective / selective,
bachelor, arts, NRMA, dirt member,
acolyte, tempted, Elijah, resulted, ignored.
ending, raised, ironic, asps.
down, making attendance, treasured,
everyday, reality, I’m, agog, lowkey.
Unusually, sympatico, brash, as neon,
décor, marzipan’s alternative, toffee, elkishly, roughed, interior audio, ‘Landslide’ /
‘Hush’. Sadomasochistic, Beddoes adulator,
nectarine, doctrinaire / mango addicted,
trekked, equally round islands, after
legumes, hardy, ugly.
Band alerted, no dice, marrying, at the Eden,
RSL, I aspired, lesser, honeymoon, until
sixty. Aviary now deserted, my attendance,
tamed eagles, rooks, inspected Ando, leased,
‘Humble’, urged sanctuary, bird-o-rama.
Nippy day, Massive Attack, tunes, eating,
rhubarb ices, and lemony, halva, under supervision, by aunts.
Daggy, movie attendance, tiresome, eczema
rash, in Amsterdam, looking haggard,
unpublished, she bought, aviation novel.
Mistletoe, anointing / tarnishing,
eucalypts, rather, I’m ambushed, letting him, upholster, shoulder, block, any, nuisance
dates. Accessories, tonight, emerald / ruby,
inkstand, amethyst lipstick, hot, umber,
shower, bag, Aspen, novelty, dildo / mask.
They entreated, read indirectly, affectedly,
lazily, hired us, supported bureaucracy, art,
never, did matter, administratively.
Everyone reacted, indifferently, after
laser, holdup, unwashed stole, bathroom, AIDS nerds, demanded, more articulated,
then. Reined in, a little, he urged, suggesting,
bad attitudes, needed diplomatic, muscle,
affluence, to express.
Insular / authentic, leaping hounds, utterly,
spirited, beyond anything, nervous,
disposition, malleable, acorn / tree
evaluator, retraining. ‘Ah! Leah!’,
housebound, unselective / selective,
bachelor, arts, NRMA, dirt member,
acolyte, tempted, Elijah, resulted, ignored.
Lagos, has, Utrecht, similarly, brittleness,
Aaron Neville / dopamine, Monaro as, the ending, raised, ironic, asps.
Michael Farrell is a NSW-born, Melbourne resident. Publications include Googlecholia (Giramondo 2022), longlisted for the ALS gold medal, a chapter on the nineteenth century, in the Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry (Cambridge University Press 2024) and a novel, The Victoria Principle (Giramondo 2025).