Emerging, Multi-award-winning W.A. Author
A. R. Levett
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Paternal Lessons

Written by A. R. Levett

Commended Award in 2016 Glen Phillips Poetry Prize

Lessons from my father:

women are nice to look at and touch,
the only worthwhile ones
are those who bare their bodies
in trashy magazines;

swelter in a factory
where your talents atrophy
seize every cent
as if everyone owes you;

football is life,
barrack for the Eagles,
abuse the television
when your team is losing;

scull so much you
pass out mid-conversation,
your committed hospital stay
an honour badge;

leave your reserved seat empty
at your expectant child’s
award-earning ceremonies
to escape on sudden vacation.

The hardest lesson of all
one drunken night
I prefer your sister.


© A. R. Levett 2015

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