closure
Stephen House
we pondered final cold parting
debated repeat inevitable flee
two bodies stifled year sly passion
nil fact else glue seal tight stay
avoidance trick of never be closure
rational discuss lost in bull-shit whine
ritual words drown keep damp clinging
next sex muddle bed fake home
so i pulled out pin grip tight near always
pricked hope inflate squirm slippery in need
goodbye whisper pack tremble escaping
pleaded no call scream baby come back
stopped slept empty alone beach hiding
cried as kid lost new toy to snatch
grieved in missing us body kiss struggle
hope tear brittle gone lope sliding waste
began roam swept coast bird-screech singing
forest cloud trail growth calm give murmer
ocean flounder icy blue dreaming
sand warming pillow fall white stretch no end
inlet granite time old grow always
trees reach sway weather element life
mantra name silent surpreme inner ancient
arrive horizon orange new seeing cycle
returned to corpse house empty once love needy
smelling lust-chaos tales more never will
ghost-me wet screaming memory ghost-you
one year sweet drift lame nothing now all
breathe in true wanting back me one only
calm alive here alone fleshing stable
silence time beauty return wallow sacred
no regret you for me naught never will be
Stephen House is an award-winning playwright, poet and actor. He’s had 20 plays produced, many commissioned, and many published by Australian Plays Transform. He’s won two Awgie Awards (Australian Writer’s Guild), an Adelaide Fringe Award, Rhonda Jancovich Poetry Award for Social Justice, Goolwa Poetry Cup, Feast Short Story Prize, and more. He’s been shortlisted for Lane Cove Literary Award, Overland Fair Australia Fiction Prize, Robyn Mathison Poetry Prize, Tom Collins Poetry Prize, Patrick White Playwright Award, Queensland Premier Drama Award, Greenroom Best Actor Award and more. He’s received Australia Council literature residencies to Ireland and Canada, and an India Asialink. He’s worked with many theatre companies. His chapbooks ‘real and unreal’ poetry and ‘The Ajoona Guest House’ monologue are published by ICOE Press Australia. He has performed his acclaimed monologues widely. His poems are published often. Stephen had a play run in Spain for 4 years. Stephen House at ē·rā/tiō.