Poems
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Double-Eyed Fig Parrot (Coxen's)
By B. R. DionysiusCyclopsitta diophthalma coxeni
For Jen
Look for the tell-tale signs of our existence. -
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 -
A Final Note About The Religions
By Lionel FogartyI opened the door that morning to the horror of society
Sis we gotta pay another $250 to get our brothers coffin
to the Church, we already given all we got
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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, -
Just a quickie...
By Alexandra PinkhamThere once was a young gal called Em,
Who caused heartache for Highbury men,
But good Mr. Knightley
Did make her act rightly -
What Would Jane Do?
By Alexandra PinkhamGrey hair, white hair,
Dyed hair, no hair,
Perms and buns
(Getting old looks fun) -
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… -
The Lecture Last Night
By Ali Alizadehafter Howard Dossor
i
Life is a travesty. I've endured
even worse. Used to be -
Étui: a Series
By Maree DawesCarpet needles
outsized sharps for very heavy materials
somewhere in half memory -
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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’ -
Regent Honeyeater
By B. R. DionysiusXanthomyza phrygia
A power as diluted as the monarch’s they were named for;
Their colonial reach across the border, tempered by more
Indigenous agitators, the great unwashed mass of noisy miners -
Spotted Tailed Quoll
By B. R. Dionysius(Southern subspecies)
Dasyurus maculatus maculatus
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Darling Downs Earless Dragon
By B. R. DionysiusTympanocryptis cf. tetraporophora
The arms of his spiral galaxy were not punctured -
Boobook Owl
By B. R. DionysiusIf they had been Roman, then someone would have
Died every night for months on end as the Boobook
Owl’s chime coursed through the evening like a late
Night telephone call’s bad news. Metronome regular, -
Strangler Fig
By B. R. DionysiusThe light years of their birth & death. The immeasurable
Expansion & collapse of eras, like a husband’s stretched
Snort of breath at his wife’s nippy questions. A snail’s oozy
Diminutive progress in slow motion or a gradual weave on -
Red Shift
By B. R. DionysiusFor Judith Wright
Gravity is rolling her particles into a child’s spit ball.
Like a student chewing paper in the classroom’s dark,
There is something unlawful about our decline & fall. -
Every Landing is an Emergency
By Omar MusaThe arrival.
The trudge,
the stones and the mud, -
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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 –
