along a ten kilometre stretch of road, hemmed by farmland
how the wallaby nibbles my hand under night’s cloak
far from glittering cities woke to injustice in the pandemic
~ Michelle Cahill from 'ideally, living arrangements'

Red Room Poetry's Fellow in 2020 is Michelle Cahill, a Goan-Anglo-Indian poet and author who lives in Sydney

Michelle spent her two-week Fellowship residency on Yuin Country at Bundanon Trust, extending on her commission for Extinction Elegies. The outcome – a suite of 10 poems – is both a reflection and resistance to the impact of colonialism, species hierarchy and climate emergencies following the Australian bush fires.

Film credit: Lyndsay Urqhart