Read Online Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley - Free Book Online

guy.’
    This poem’s longer than Leo’s usual stuff. He read it to me before it went up on the wall. ‘When did you write that?’ I asked him.
    ‘Sitting at the servo. This guy started talking to me while I was waiting for Jake.’
    I walk ahead and leave Leo and Jazz looking at the wall. You got to keep moving round here.

Poet
     
     
    Assignment Three
    Poetry 101
    Student: Leopold Green
     
    The daytime things
     
    There’s a guy down at the servo
    With lions in his hair
    Matted tails of roaring kings
    A dirty song caught on his skin
    He can’t remember when he lost them
    But he lost the daytime things
     
    Daytime shirts and daytime ties
    And shiny daytime shoes
    Daytime cloudy thoughts that drift
    In cloudy daytime blues
    Daytime smiles from people travelling
    While they ride the sunshine home
    Daytime TV on the weekend
    Daytime talking on the phone
     
    Now he’s crying at the servo
    Midnight stumbling in his mouth
    Hope slowly sliding south
    A dirty song caught on his skin
    Matted tails of roaring kings
    Who knows where or when he lost them
    But he lost the daytime things

Ed
     
     
    The party’s spilling onto the front yard when we get there and it’s only ten forty-five. A couple of Jake’s friends call as we walk past. Leo slaps their hands and leads the way.
    Walking into parties like this is like walking into haywire sleep. People move past saying things that don’t make sense because they’re dripping with alcohol. The house vibrates with heat and music and in the darkness people who won’t remember each other in the morning are getting to know each other real well now. Everyone here is older than us and even though I know most of them I do a quick check of the exits. I feel better knowing I can get out.
    ‘What sort of party is this?’ Lucy asks, staring at a group of guys who look like they walked off the set of Prison Break .
    ‘The fun kind,’ Leo says. ‘Go have some. We’ll find you after I talk to my brother.’
    ‘The fun kind?’ Lucy shouts to Jazz. ‘I’m pretty sure I saw that guy over there on Crime Stoppers last week.’ She’s right. She did.
    ‘Don’t be paranoid,’ Jazz shouts, and drags her to the dance floor. Daisy walks behind them, blowing kisses to people she knows. The three of them weave in and out of the music and Lucy moves like she’s got extra beats in her head, beats no one can hear but her. I look at Leo talking to Jake and think about using one of the exits so I can go find myself a wall and paint a girl with a bunch of wild beats.
    ‘Ed,’ Leo calls, and I walk across to say hi to Jake. After we’ve swapped hellos I leave him and Leo to talk business and stand back with Dylan to watch the girls dance. More people crowd in, crowding out air, leaving only sweat and dark.
    ‘You’re acting worried,’ Dylan says. ‘You think something’ll go wrong?’
    ‘Yeah I think something’ll go wrong. If you got half a brain you won’t get involved tonight.’
    ‘You’ve got half a brain,’ Dylan says.
    ‘What?’
    ‘You’ve got half a brain. How come you’re doing it?’
    ‘I got a whole brain, for the record. But I got bills to pay and no job.’
    ‘My mum and dad pay the bills. They won’t pay for me to go to Queensland because I spent my money on a Wii.’
    ‘So get a job at McDonald’s, you idiot.’
    ‘I’ve got a job there. I don’t have time to save that much money again. Daisy’s going without me and she’ll be alone up there with all those surfer guys. You know what they want.’
    ‘A great wave?’ I ask, looking over at Lucy.
    ‘That’s right. They should get their own wave.’
    We watch for a bit longer. ‘I think surfers are maybe her type,’ Dylan says.
    ‘You’re stuffed, then.’
    ‘I could be a surfer if I tried.’
    ‘Surfers don’t wear checked shirts and iron their jeans and shave twice a day.’
    ‘I like to be neat.’
    ‘And that’s fine. But you’ll never be a dude.’
    ‘Dude’s a stupid word,’ he