Tuesday Poem - Conversations

Conversations

The power goes off and I blame possums
when I realise we're the only house
in darkness. You blame the Smartmeter,
the power company and defend
the possums.

Over dinner (by camp-lantern light)
you tell me unequivocally
that one of my students - a bloke
you have never met -
was a pothead in his youth. 

You weren't even supposed to be eating -

you'd put yourself on a three day fast.
(It lasted until three o'clock
of the first day, as predicted.)
We both say, everything's always my fault
in the same aggrieved tone.
You bring me a cup of tea and the world news
every morning before I'm awake.
I begin my days pessimistically with cold tea
while I listen to the possums in the ceiling
scrape nests in our insulation.
Of course, it wasn't a possum but a loose
connection that cut our power and when that
was fixed the whole house blazed again -

and isn't that how it always happens?

Catherine Bateson, 2013

If you want a poetry conversation, check out the Tuesday poem feature by clicking here to read a wonderful poem on resilience by Keith Westwater, curated/edited by Alicia Ponder - and from here, travel the world of Tuesday poems.