A Domesticated Man

• William Choy, Grade 10, All Saints Anglican School
• Poetry
• 2015

Finalist in the 'Beyond Words 2015' competition

A patchwork of corrugated iron,
An artwork in rust, and clay, and mortar.
Passing out the window, he’d never know
The endless shacks, and streets, and stations.
A tessellated quilt of terracotta tiles,
An artwork in timber, battens, and picket fences.
Floating above the terrain, he’d never know
The identical houses, and streets, and suburbs.
An artwork of individualised canvasses,
Endless faces passing by, carbon copies
Of carbon bodies, he’d never know,
The paper towns, paper lives, paper people.
The gentle sway atop the rails,
Awaking him from his slumber, dazed.
And everything, everything was strange,
And everything, everything had passed him by.