Bio
I live in Melbourne and have had two collections of poetry published: "Polishing the Silver" (2006) and "Weight of Snow" (2013).
Jennifer Chrystie
Pencils
My father taught me to sharpen pencils
long in the wood, short in the lead
Less chance of breakage for a lead
writing memories of a charmed childhood
in elegant copperplate or pressed
through several layers of paper
leaving imprints of profit and loss
A pity he didn't school me on the breakage
of bones when pitted against walls or roads
the breakage of spirit through constant rejection
the breakage of relations for trivial reasons
I have learned much from his mistakes