after ‘TIME RONE’ installation by Tyrone Wright (Rone)

at The Art Gallery of W.A. 2024

 

The dust settles on rooms of remember when

Dettol could resolve

the scrapes and bruises of a day;

a winded stomach, a tumble in the grass

                     − we shook hands and all was forgotten…

Two generations congregate in nostalgia’s house;

the telegraph room where we echo pet peeves

and who regrets the past.

There’s a whimsy in wandering through

memory’s corridors

where birthday cards line up in years;

fashion trends, reinvent what’s old is new.

And the silver metal scales still feel cold;

while our weight has gained

our presence wanes; height still measured in feet.

The artist wonders where the lonely people went

as if ghosts don’t linger in dust motes,

in a typewriter ribbon unravelled

or a switchboard unattended.

A conversation that never happened

is the elephant in every room.