The Wednesday Poem

Words, Touching Nerves​

for Peter Jeffery OAM

A hundred word review
seems like a long way
to the journey’s end

and yet A General Much
Tired of War leaves words
searching for more

fishing out lines from his
early life, we see the poet
trumpeting youthful

phrases and references
to the ‘Old School’
that pull you in deeper

to a life placed somewhere
between the ‘billy cart’
and the ‘thumping pistons’

and ‘hissing steam’ of
engines driving imagination
from childhood to adulthood’s

endless mental stream
sometimes out of our depth,
in awe of his rich lifetime

of words, touching nerves
those tender places
before the last turn.

Mike Greenacre

Mike Greenacre’s latest collection of poetry, Nocturnal House, was published by Ginninderra Press in 2020. He won 1st Prize in the Tom Collins Poetry Competition in 2019 and has judged journal and competition entries. He is a member of WA Poets, OOTA Writers and coordinates the Vincent Writers’ Group.

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