Fleshy Little Demiurge

Graeme Miles

Call it water, call it fire,

this world has no stopping, no divisions.

But he wants to hold it

and divide. Hiding in the brain

he’s a fleshy little demiurge,

homunculus with a hooking claw.

He dreams he’s a king in exile,

he should own the fire-light, own

the high-tide line. He’ll buy

the sun from you for a dollar,

buy the river for two. He’ll go on

buying, making his deals

until all you have left

is a pile of coins, and you find

he owns the only shop in town.

GRAEME MILES has published three collections of poems: Infernal Topographies (UWA Press, 2020), Recurrence (John Leonard Press, 2012) and Phosphorescence (Fremantle Press, 2006). He has lived in Hobart since 2008 and teaches Latin and ancient Greek literatures at the University of Tasmania.