Love your poem so much for what it says and the way it says it, that it took me all this time to even notice it’s an acrostic. What a smart idea for this prompt!

Question: Who are your favourite poets and why? (I’m just curious.)

At first I couldn’t see why you thought I might take offence, then realised it was the reference to Oz.

No, I thought it was funny.

Coming in from the coast
I thought what a fine morning
the sky clear after last night’s dust,
but approaching Murwillumbah I saw
thick haze along the Border Ranges
the highest peaks almost invisible
ghostly traces behind the white.

As I unpacked the car, while the wind
came in buffeting gusts, I felt it
in the back of my throat, stinging.
Water couldn’t quench that fire,
it wasn’t exactly thirst.

It’s still here, I can feel it now
just as a tickling cough – even though
mid-afternoon I was wracked
by sudden sneezing, explosive,
over and over, and shivers
ran down my back.

I have the central desert
inside my body. I don’t know
if or when or how it will ever leave.
Too much and it might kill me.
So far it is not too much. This time.

By noon we could no longer
see it in the air. The sky was blue,
the sun shone, the day grew warm.
On the television screen tonight we saw
the rapid floodwaters in the Philippines,
rivers through Manila streets
I walked in ’78; counted our blessings.

“The gesture that implied
Understatedly
Very much of closeness
Without the need to be explicit in
X-rated behavior
You should only see in the
Zoo and not in public spaces.”

An elderly man with his arm around the
Back of an old lady
Crossed the road
Directly in front of me
Engaged in
Familiar conversation among couples with
Great many years under their belts

Holding hands
In front of me and
Just a single gesture
Kept my attention
Long after they were out of sight
Maybe it was the camaraderie
Not that they were
Offensively close in a
Public space

Quite the contrary
Really
Subtle was
The gesture that implied
Understatedly
Very much of closeness
Without the need to be explicit
Unlike many young couples engaged in
X-rated behavior
You should only see in the
Zoo and not in public spaces.

You can sort it all out…

I was married to a beautiful fox,
now her in-laws have heads full of rocks,
I kept wond’ring if it was because
her whole family came here from Oz,
while she claims that I’m just a vain ox.