Creative Writing - Sample Poems

The Bedroom Clock

Children need clocks in their bedrooms
that ring when childhood is over,
when it’s time to run
to a river of buildings,
pulling suits from out of their lunchbags.

How young are you, said the child to the willow
that guards a river of tiaras. I am as young as the minute-
hand on the clock I’m drawing upon your wall.

I put my arm around her. I love you Dad, she says.
I love you, too, I say. And hold just a little bit back.

Children need to know when bedroom stories
are bedroom games,
when their mothers’ arms around them
are holding onto their husbands.

How old are you, said the mother to the son
who hid his pubic hair. I’m as old as the backyard gum
that’s lost all its leaves. Please don’t ask me again.

I stroke her head, she smiles. Any tick of the clock
she will stare up from the bed on which she curls
and see that I’m a man. But not this minute or year.

Children need a letter to explain
they are no longer children, clouds
have their own shapes and love
is a warm nail through your lungs.

How old are you, said the bedroom clock
to the sleeping man. I am as old as his dreams
replied the child awake in the corner.