Nadeen & Michael
23rd April 2023

Baguettes and coffee and orange juice,
next to unleaded fuel,
and amid honest (and often not easy),
lives on Johnston Street.

The sign on the piano says play me,
it is a long way from a persecuted childhood,
worn every day as a question,
with no response.

Plots lived rich through movies around the corner on Lygon Street,
alongside cakes, and gelati, and Tiamo’s (yes I love you too),
note books are on sale in the doorway of the newsagents,
a Bakers Delight,
and Readings,
bridging the gaps and shortcomings of society with literature,
and music,
and decency (the employees here study seriously).

Still there is no response,
other than to live well,
and to carry on,
to make, and to create,
and to look for it in others.

Here is life,
and the heart of Carlton,
here are baguettes, and coffee, and orange juice,
...and Nadeen & Michael.

Notebook sketch of hanging pot plants outside of Baguettes, Johnston St., Carlton
(19th May 2019).