March 25th

not my city

anymore

o, Melbourne

gone

the Biting Eye

Catcher

Thumping Tum

Sebastian’s Bertie’s

Southern Cross bar

jazz haunts

folk dives

city square demos

barn dance

pop shows

gone

the In Shoppe

Foys

Le Louvre

Mr Stripes

we ate at Jimmy’s

Wong Shing Kee

and a place we called

the mcg

above Celestial Lane

retsina

underneath the table

after hours at

Stalactites

and Lebanese House

the Lido

Billboard

Tivoli

and Michael’s Corner Store

gone

also Tikki and John’s

Russell Collins tea shop, too

Hilliers

for that frosted chocolate

before the last tram home

no Mietta’s

but Pellegrini’s

soul survivor

ghost of Sisto

shining through

my city’s but a shadowscape

I gaze upon

with ageing eyes

cruising up and down

the Littles

remembering

different times

and frocks

and flares

and orange trams

with proper stops

acknowledging

what’s there now

and also what is

gone

new growth

old trees

beneath the streets

those new glass blocks

will crumble, too

and be replaced

with

something new.

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