Alexi’s Commentary
This piece is probably one of the oldest poems in this portfolio and should be read with the fact there it was written almost a decade before I moved to Brisbane, in-fact I believe I wrote it during my first ever trip to the river city. This piece is written from the perspective of someone from Perth visiting Brisbane for the first ever time and should be treated as such
The Poem
I awake to the sound of backpackers, scurrying around the dorm.
Cleaning themselves off from the quest night before.
I put on my clothes and bask in the warmth of the sun,
I step out onto the concrete and appreciate the city,
This leg of my trip is definitely not done.
I walk slowly up the hill towards Queen St mall.
I walk and I walk and I walk.
I pass building after building after building and suddenly it dawns,
I’m lost!
Oh how far I can fall.
I keep walking, arrogantly refusing to get help.
I’m
Anxious,
I’m scared, I’m lost,
Help, please,
I don’t know where I am.
Help,
Please,
I don’t know where I am.
Help,
Please,
I don’t know where I am.
Queue, Aye, Gee,
Queensland art gallery!
Only I would get lost and end up at an art gallery.
I go inside and regain my composition,
Admiring all the art,
As if I believe in superstition.
I leave and get directions,
Queen street here I am,
I am not lost but found,
And right now I really crave some lamb.
I’m hungry and I remember that Erin has sent me on a quest,
I must try all the chips shops and return with Intel on…
Just which one has the best.
I enter a shop called fish and order myself some chips,
I crunch down and am filled with nothing but disappoint.
My pain, my anguish,
The chips are so foul,
How can anyone like this joint?!
I go and get a Starbucks, as I am tired, and for some energy,
I am with great need.
As I sip this legendary coffee,
A taste enters my mouth,
A taste comparable to that of Mechanics’ finest mead.
It is at this moment in time that something dawns upon me,
A piece of information which kind of makes me squee.
Brisbane is effectively Perth just bigger and less isolated!
“Who are you?” Perth asked with anticipation.
“I’m you but stronger”, Brisbane answered with a tone of emancipation.
I remember I have an exam,
While here I holiday.
Not exactly the thing that makes you go hip, hip hooray.
Have I studied? Nope, not today
I think I’ll go get a cider, that’ll be okay.
I have one more think to say,
Just one.
While tomorrow I will be in the Sunshine Coast,
I am in Brisbane…
Today.
