Poem: Slingshot

Slingshot

David without it

and Goliath a behemoth,

the ground shaking

and half the sky

dark with Goliath’s intent,

dark with thunderclouds.

David knowing fear,

Goliath invulnerability.

David knowing adrenalin,

knowing speed, evasion,

thinking as fast as his heart’s beat,

his legs’ frantic pound,

ducking the brute swing

of Goliath’s arm, circling,

turning Goliath around

to the sky’s other half,

the sun’s blinding light,

glint of sword in Goliath’s eyes,

slice of it through air, into flesh,

Goliath toppling,

unable to bear his own weight,

the weight of legend,

no need of any slingshot

other than David, himself.

Adelaide’s David Adès lives in Sydney where he hosts the WestWords poetry podcast and is a member of the Pennant Hills Poets Group. He won the 2005 Wirra Wirra Vineyards Short Story Prize, 2014 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize, and is a Pushcart Prize triple nominee.

His poems have appeared in literary magazines in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe, and his collections Mapping the World (2008, FAW Anne Elder Award commended),Only the Questions Are Eternal(2015), Afloat in Light (2017), are followed by this year’s The Heart’s Lush Gardens, from which today’s poem is taken.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.