Mallbirds chronicles the present and future of a small group of street kids who used to hang out in Geelong Mall. Written in 1995, it is based upon true characters and real stories.
1995: the Geelong mall on a Saturday night
was a concrete polygon decorated with seagulls
you certainly got your moneysworth
buying buttered toast at the youth kiosk for 20c
Corey used to dive into the fountain
for other people’s wishes
(we called him Rotten Apple Corey)
since he’d just got out of jail
Brenda wanted to play pool
but Prue insisted on the Botanic Gardens
so our night was roses and alcohol
throwing petals at each other
and smoking
(Wayne nicked cigarettes from BiLo)
it was he who taught me
how to swear and crowbar parking meters
I think he really hated the government
Leanne, the skinny runaway
was obsessed with condoms
and Chris ‘Dorky Chris’ kept switching sides
cross-wiring gangs like traffic lights
and years later when they removed the chewy from under the seats
and bulldozed the fountain
and the youth kiosk went broke,
Corey went back to jail
and Prue became a housewife
Brenda travelled to other towns
and Dorky Chris is still hanging round
Wayne disappeared
and Leanne got herself a boyfriend
I wrote a poem about them all
and it sucks, just like they did
About Suzanne Day
Loved it! There’s a real sense of sweetness about this poem, sweeter than you expect the subjects were but it has a real charm.