Leaving

Andrew Leggett

On my last office day, I clear shelves.
My name plate space reverts to blank.
I wait for you as afternoon wears on,
dressed in the jeans of serial collegial goodbyes. 

Then packers at the beach house uplift everything
and drive the material evidence of our lives in boxes
to a domicile a few hours north. It’s the end of May,
and bitter wind blows a diatribe against all landlords.
 
I hear breakers roll into the slope
of Tuggerah Beach and imagine
a humpback somewhere in the Tasman
bellowing as it breaches and blows.

Biography:
Andrew Leggett is an author and editor of poetry, fiction, interdisciplinary academic papers and songs. His poetry is widely published throughout Australia and internationally.  In addition to medical degrees and postgraduate qualifications in psychiatry and psychotherapy, he holds a research masters degree in creative writing from the University of Queensland and a PhD in creative writing from Griffith University. He edited the Australasian Journal of Psychotherapy from 2006-2011. He is the current prose editor of StylusLit. His first two collections of poetry Old Time Religion and Other Poems (1998) and Dark Husk of Beauty (2006) were published by Interactive Press. The manuscript of his third collection Losing Touch has been accepted for publication by Ginninderra Press.