Poems
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Hills Hoist Philosophy
By Richard James AllenWhat happens when you read the wrong word
in the middle of the right night? What happens
if you open the right door in the middle
of the wrong poem? I have no idea. -
The lifeguard is taxed
By Susan Bradley SmithHer drowning was stranger than the story of Eden. She’s on the hard
sand now, waiting for the emergency services to arrive, but there is no
doubt she’s dead. Her ovaries are sodden orchards, her lungs choked
billabongs, separated twins. The lifeguard, who is really a very nice kid, -
Fun Fact
By Richard James AllenYou needn’t worry.
The universe doesn’t know
how to end.
First of all, it doesn’t know, -
The Moment Keeper
By Richard James AllenYes, you are
the moment keeper.
Yes, it’s a promotion.
Yes, it’s something -
Bush Philosophy: Rivers and Pools
By Richard James AllenHeraclitus said you can never
step in the same river twice,
but his mate and arch-
rival Parmenides -
Initial Impressions of a Pakistani-Australian in London
By Maryam Azam1.
Walking along Westminster bridge
was like walking along Wahdat road in Lahore
with hordes of people instead of cars - -
Suicide Dogs
By David Stavanger1.
There is a bridge in Scotland where over fifty dogs
have inexplicably leapt to their deaths, plummeting
from parapet past green stone. Many believe it to be -
The ocean's lullaby
By Richard James AllenHere’s another whole way not to panic.
Despite human beings’ natural tendency
to misunderstand one another, especially
in groups, the default position being -
My father's portrait
By Sarah RiceSometimes you arrive like a sudden storm
or stay like a stubborn thought
Have you outgrown this frame
Are you climbing out -
Domestic Time Travellers
By Richard James Allensheets and towels, sheets and towels are our teachers
closed-mouthed, their wisdom is not in words
they are immortal, or at least have lifespans
comparable to Bowhead Whales, Greenland Sharks -
...Patsy Cline in the desert
By Richard James AllenOur souls are waiting for us,
but they will not linger
for our emergencies.
They don’t understand time. -
Here/Not here
By Tricia DearbornThe dialectic of trauma gives rise to complicated, sometimes uncanny
alterations of consciousness … which mental health professionals,
searching for calm, precise language, call ‘dissociation’.
― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery -
Blue Carbon
By Caitlin Maling15 of all the world’s species of sea grass –
Genii Halophila, Halodula, Zostera, Cymodocea –
live in the Great Barrier Reef covering 15% of the total.
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Grace at the Edges
By Richard James Allen(after William Carlos Williams)
the pellucid beauty of a book
you never pick up
but looks so delicious -
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What the Gargoyle Said
By Richard James AllenI can feel the hollowness. I can feel the emptiness.
I can feel the vast hole. There is a gap in my chest
the size of the Grand Canyon, the Windy City,
as lonely as however many single room -
My Mind as a Dutch Tilt
By Richard James AllenYou have been away
for many weeks,
but I am only gradually
losing my mind. -
Bodyland
By Richard James AllenMy body is not my own.
It is like the land, an inheritance.
It contains traces,
incubates traumas. -
Dream Management as a Product Placement Poem
By Richard James AllenThe experience of losing your dreams is akin to having
your handbag or wallet stolen except that there is no perpetrator.
Go ahead and blame someone or something if you like,
but let’s face it, it’s a natural phenomenon. Dream dissipation
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