1984 School Magazine

MARY ALEXIS MACMILLIAN PRIZE - YEAR B THE TWENTY CENT PIECES

Seemed tawdry and f rail Beside the all-consu ming brown Of Mother Earth. A pleasure-seeking lorikeet Swooped down on her - Then took off , Dazzling wi ngs afl utter, For the screaming snake Of a roller coaster, Without even seeing her. lnwardly she reeled At the wave of self-pity That crashed against the cliff Of her consciousness, And A tear Like some mou ntaineer Clu ng For dear life To its last handhold And fell, Sliding along a glacier's course. Another slipped And soon the whole expedition Dripped Down the peak of her cheek. But what was that? Shining, Between that red-faced man's feet?

Just twenty cents more And the glisten ing balloon, Bobbing like a hooked salmon Fighting to be f ree ln a blue and white sea Would be hers. Just twenty cents . But the jack-o-lantern man, Cigarettes dangling, Fnom yellowed tombstones Shaped by some careless hand, Shook his pumpkin head At her offering And returning to his nets. She joined the garish f lock Of noisy giants, Donned in holiday best, Chattering like btjsht parrots Drunk on fermented f ruit. To the alleys either side Tubby men like starving dogs Barked

"Come! Come!" "Spend ! Spend !" "Have fun! Fun!" But there was hunger And desperation ln their eyes. It had rained that morning, Turning the road to chocolate pudding,

It cou ld n't be ! She crouched And dug into the mire Hope af ire, Crooning over the riches of A twenty cent piece. Vicki Buch bach BH

And the tinselly hues Of the coconut skies And the clowns And the rifle-ranges And the me rry-go-rounds