Poems
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Haiku
By Jane Williamsview from the bell tower-
the city escaping
the toll of the bells
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Spur and Gully
By Michael GiacomettiMorning mist climb spur
and ridge; water gullies
in rapid descent
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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) -
In the moment
By Jane WilliamsA haibun
I climb the spiralling stone steps, the already narrow way seemingly narrower at each curve. One, two, three .. twenty five... I place my trust in my guide ahead of me, in his experience. When the light bulb blows I instinctively begin to feel my own way, hands against the cool rough walls. I position my foot so that my toes tap the botto… -
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 – -
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… -
STARS AND INK
By Kit BrookmanNothing about the universe is peaceful,
and nothing about a poet’s brain is, either.
Both are tracts of light-shot ink,
a fusion-studded soup that stretches on -
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Scale
By Michael GiacomettiMiniature euros
bound pads unmarked on paper
topographies
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Implied (suggested version)
By Michael GiacomettiThese lines of contour
suggest landscapes of abstract
possibilities
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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 -
Peak-bagging
By Michael GiacomettiTop-out at the trig
or cairn, sign the summit log
The list grows shorter
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HOW STARS ARE LIKE US
By Kit BrookmanThe heart is like a star,
with its orbit of blood,
its squelching, atomised gut,
valves distending in one long, -
Every Landing is an Emergency
By Omar MusaThe arrival.
The trudge,
the stones and the mud, -
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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. -
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Spotted Tailed Quoll
By B. R. Dionysius(Southern subspecies)
Dasyurus maculatus maculatus
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Eastern Bristlebird
By B. R. DionysiusDasyornis brachypterus
Fire cleanses more than memory; a bad
Season will clear out tussock grass without
A backward glance. The charred ‘calling logs’ -
IN PASSING
By Angela GardnerGet lucky, get plucky. Passing
— just passing through — not passing
Buck, or Chaz, or Lou
