Poems
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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 -
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 -
Việt Nam Postcards
By Jake DennisHo Hoàn Kiém, Hà Nội
The Lake of the Returned Sword
Polished smiles—embalmed -
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 -
Pale Blue
By Mark MordueI’m in a pale blue mood
in Leichhardt, in Summer Hills,
a storybook explorer
afternoon sun in my face -
When a poet dies
By Juan Garrido-SalgadoTime ceases to be memory.
Motionless words remain there
Diluted pages of the inspiration that one day was.
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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. -
ኪዳን / Covenant
By Yirga Gelaw Woldeyesያኔ በልጅነት ከማሳው ወሰድኸኝ፣
አፈሩን ጨብጠህ እስኪ አሽትተው አልኸኝ።
የድንጋዮቹ ስም የምንጮቹ ታሪክ፣
የአዝርዕቶቹ አይነት የአበባወቹ መልክ፣ -
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. -
ਖੁਸ਼ ਦਿਲ (kush dil / happy heart)
By Sukhjit Kaur KhalsaI arrive at JFK
after twenty-nine
endlessly elongated
uneventful -
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 -
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’ -
The stars
By Melanie MununggurrAppeared out of nowhere
They came from every direction
Erupted through surfaces
And dove from blackened skies -
pinged hammy
By Harry Reidafter Ted Berrigan
Now that the Earth is changing I reckon it’s
time to hang the boots up -
COMPROMISING THE AMBIANCE
By David QuirkWhat happened was
I noticed my heart was beating.
Not that it ever stopped, but
you understand. -
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 -
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Screen Memory
By Anwen CrawfordCathy Moriarty,
18 playing 15
in Scorsese’s Raging Bull –
