No Through Road
The stench of diesel fuel
assails the nostrils.
Bus after bus
idles, picking up
the trade.
CBD, Adelaide.
T shirt scribbles
by the score.
Go Round – wobbly breasts.
Oakley – tall and skinny guy.
88 – school boy in casuals.
Stilettos, sandals,
thongs, joggers,
formal blacks and sockless.
Suits and suits,
and frocks and frocks.
Phones.
Ear plugs.
Fixed stares everywhere.
Crunch of brakes.
Tough, focused, heading
somewhere.
Not a No Through Road
but home.
A homeless man
sitting on a bench
in Gilbert Place.
No home to go to
but a No Through Road.
