Women Old Colonists, by Barnaby Smith

Group of Women, Old Colonists, by Henry Jones (Australia, b. UK), 1872-1881.

Women old colonists

 our
auslander manifesto for an unadulterated 
space – companions in family history, too mature & silent to administer cartes de
visite & left hanging cryptically, algebraically, among other mash-ups & ruins
but, still, warum allein?
the others from the Holborn gathering have come & are very pretty today / sleep
becomes hard with the doctrines of gullies & glades exposed –
at least have faith in this catalogue entry, a long winded 
way to ensure you are participated at, a testament to mild applause /
every frayed cloth, blotchy forearm (heightened
senses) expressed in mock woodgrain, the myth of symmetry 
underlying the repose of men / true charity is never holding country accountable
for temperaments vanquished… besides which, the banquet was spoiled by 
the Gambier brothel story though in this age the feeling is more than mutual / oh
my mind
turns off too frequently / it is hard to distinguish what is
patience in all this, patience losing measure by the season, is there even
lustre in these experiences (advising cloves for teeth care, lips pursed will work  
here, make up for it with posture) / a season, an idea, united under abstractions 
felt – physiques are matter, trust to the depiction,
no      
single painting can be guilty / hands folding & unfolding in the fug of March, 
voices of arts patrons ferment on inconceivable 
neighbours’ enthusiasm – more pressing is pastoral as a Prussian delineation now,
familiarity endangered, contested vistas changed
 upon looking / childless men guessing at circuits, roundabout achievements in al-
most engineering, them & us improvisers in terrain, intimacy, ‘local or
universal’, relent to pose with compassion this eve / record of fitted smiles, a collage
of isms
/ time to do this, swapping a face for a face, time to exist here remaining within token
​hierarchy / good-natured habitude leads to over-reliance on species memory to dis-
engage

Barnaby Smith

Barnaby Smith is a journalist, editor, poet and musician based in northern New South Wales, Australia. He can be found online at www.seededelsewhere.com