Poems
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Creatures of Habit
By Jane WilliamsA haibun
I check my purse for coins before entering the church, for prayer by pay-as-you-go electric candlelight. I favour real wax and wick, my breath fanning the flames of someone else's prayers. The props and words I've known all my life sill welcome me home though I visit less often.
Outside in the courtyard the garden displays differen… -
The other sky...
By Kit BrookmanThe other sky has its bright face on,
a full-bloom pincushion of burning nails.
On the earth, we are marked by red lights –
they hang on us like animals’ eyes – -
Is this the lunch stop?
By Michael GiacomettiOne unwraps plastic
Other gorges pre-made chow
Time to boil? Or blow?
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Not the Larapinta Trail: a selection of 13 unmarked haiku
By Michael GiacomettiA journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step …
- Laozi, Tao Te Ching
A long hike begins with a heavy pack clipped and a light tread -
The Scrimmage
By Candy RoyalleThere is violence here
an abundance of it
fists and elbows and tongues that lash out
ankles and knees that fight to keep balance -
the river
By Jonathan Hillthere we are - seated in a tight circle, sharing ridiculously obscure foodless recipes, smiles creasing our cheeks, eyes alive with belonging. our laughter so loud, it rises above the rain, bequeathed to us by bundoola, that has plagued and cleansed us all week long. the last poem recited. one final applause. the deluge intensifies as we crawl… -
Albert's Lyrebird
By B. R. DionysiusMenura alberti
(i)
He whistled to her & like an inquisitive dog
The bowl of her head angled, a satellite dish -
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What Would Jane Do?
By Alexandra PinkhamGrey hair, white hair,
Dyed hair, no hair,
Perms and buns
(Getting old looks fun) -
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Boot circle
By Michael GiacomettiSpokes of tendon–wool–
vibram–bone radiate out
to the cardinals
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Accents
By Cathy BrayInspired by one of those “Easily-influenced, could-do-better” school reports I got as a Year 9 Boarder in 1968.
Tendrils sucking round
An outstretched finger -
Every Landing is an Emergency
By Omar MusaThe arrival.
The trudge,
the stones and the mud, -
The Bell Ringers
By Jane WilliamsA villanelle
The church bells ring out caressing the stone.
A circle of ten at the end of each swing,
the bell ringers stand together alone. -
The initiation
By Michael GiacomettiWelcome said he with a wink and walked on
Not stopping
Nor once looking back they march
Silent but for the snap of twig -
METAMORPHOSES
By Angela GardnerI
Street after street held back in unanimity
drowned in brick and tile containment -
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Confession of an inveterate peak bagger
By Michael Giacometti1.
[ … ]
2.
These scaffolds of talus and scree -
Overnight with Franz near Mt Giles
By Michael GiacomettiNamed after Ernest Giles, the English-born explorer of the rangelands and western deserts of Australia in the early 1870s, Mt Giles (or Ltharrkelipeke, pronounced ool-dar-ka-lee-pa-ka, in Arrernte), at 1389 metres above sea level it is not only the third highest peak in the Northern Territory, but the third highest west of the Great Dividing Range… -
Scale
By Michael GiacomettiMiniature euros
bound pads unmarked on paper
topographies
