Poems
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Mangrove Girls
By Lulu HoudiniPotato scallops from the takeaway that always smells like a camel station
but that my sisters and I can’t get enough of.
Pimples show up on our faces because of it.
Tell Mum there was a price increase and that’s what happened to the change. -
Together We Can Walk That Mile
By Sean Choolburrablack man white world
black girl makes a stand
unpaid bills leads
to black out leaves -
so too the sunrise
By Jazz Moneyso too the sunrise
with clarity and promise
of who you will rise to be
so too the breaking night -
The time traveler’s memoir
By Chris TseI remember the moment we learned
how to rewrite our potential—the sky opened up
like time-lapse flowers blooming
in a desaturated landscape—entire timelines -
A Day at the Beach
By Karen WyldThey rowed from the north. Little way, not far now.
Along routes passed down from ancestral wayfinders.
In search of sea cucumbers, and trade. Perhaps love.
Yellow dogs yapping from shore and boat: we remember you. -
COMPROMISING THE AMBIANCE
By David QuirkWhat happened was
I noticed my heart was beating.
Not that it ever stopped, but
you understand. -
Dirt Fringe
By Brittany Rileyon the plains, Weona’s weary – coughs dust from black soil
caverns; arid gusts craft dirt angels on Maitland Street. Sky pearls
squawk central ballads, lassoed in the eyes of rural foremothers
– steadfast and burning – on a flatline crockery cupboard of dust bowls -
Etched in My Mind
By Charmaine Papertalk GreenI am still thinking about you mother
Slapping me awake 40 years on
New space time moving thataway -
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New Hope's Black Pit
By Bob BrownThree years ago
the delightful
Darling Downs
village of Acland -
ኪዳን / Covenant
By Yirga Gelaw Woldeyesያኔ በልጅነት ከማሳው ወሰድኸኝ፣
አፈሩን ጨብጠህ እስኪ አሽትተው አልኸኝ።
የድንጋዮቹ ስም የምንጮቹ ታሪክ፣
የአዝርዕቶቹ አይነት የአበባወቹ መልክ፣ -
my most-watched YouTube searches of the year (so far)
By Andrew SutherlandAnetra dives over Marcia Marcia Marcia
the here and now is a bendback-house
queering the queue repeat now jump!!
Jimin ‘Set Me Free pt2’ -
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Hi Mum, It's Me
By Jennifer Wong'In 2022, Australians are believed to have lost over $7 million through the now-notorious ‘Hi Mum’ text scam, which dupes victims into sending money to cybercriminals posing as their children.' (SBS News)
“Hi Mum, it’s me,
Your child -
ਖੁਸ਼ ਦਿਲ (kush dil / happy heart)
By Sukhjit Kaur KhalsaI arrive at JFK
after twenty-nine
endlessly elongated
uneventful -
Rituals
By Joanna YangI open the door, hand resting on the frame as a chill travels to the front of my legs
my back hunched into a C
could it be
you can answer my plea -
Clean Break
By Julian MatthewsI miss your low drone,
your no-nonsense, business-like growl
Ready to pounce on quarry under the couch
or stick your slanted mouth in to seize -
The World is Your Pants
By Marieke Hardy, Emilie Zoey BakerTo anyone who ever said children should be seen and not heard,
I want to tell them about the kid I saw at the Natural History Museum
who ran up to a meteorite, hugged it and yelled, “I LOVE YOU, OUTER SPACE!”
That boy tore a moment in the silence to remind -
Pale Blue
By Mark MordueI’m in a pale blue mood
in Leichhardt, in Summer Hills,
a storybook explorer
afternoon sun in my face
