today I fall in love
with the woman at the bus stop
I fall in love with her sky blue earplugs
and lolly pink backpack
I fall in love with her half closed eyes
suggesting a foot in heaven’s door
I fall in love with the way she sways
like a professional mourner
who worries over this woman
fingering you are my sunshine
on the piano accordion
squat as an invalid’s breakfast tray
above her outsized lap
track suited against the swank
of the commonwealth bank
you tell me you are a difficult woman
this is how you introduce yourself
do you mean like a book
that is difficult to read because it is written
in a language other than
Jane Williams is an Australian poet and short fiction writer living in Tasmania. She was born in England in 1964. She is a poet and short story writer. Her collections of poems are Outside Temple Boundaries (Five Islands Press 1998) and The Last Tourist (Five Islands Press 2006).