Self-bout: Sparring with Heart Disease
Beat by the bed.
Pummel pulse sucker punch
sputters,
ebbs.
The starter I need
to saddle my dreams.
Or the weakening chock
of a kitsch Dali clock
as it slips
from the
shelf.
Puddle bub progress,
lie without rest.
A drink-slacked kraken
shucked from the shell.
–First published in Quadrant (Australia)
Mitch Browne is a poet and bricklayer from the Blue Mountains in Australia. His work has been published in JAMA, Quadrant, ZineWest, Grieve Project and the Sydney Morning Herald.