Poems
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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 -
Deviant
By Michael GiacomettiLight refracts through true-
magnetic-grid, declinates
from north-south axis
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Scale 2
By Michael GiacomettiOnly two inches
distant on the map, but it
is two mile too far
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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 Scrimmage
By Candy RoyalleThere is violence here
an abundance of it
fists and elbows and tongues that lash out
ankles and knees that fight to keep balance -
Implied
By Michael GiacomettiLandscape of abstract
possibility exists
between lines [of] contour
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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’ -
Superb Fairy Wrens
By Marg SheppardA little bird,
Collar of brilliant blue
Head too,
Announcing! -
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 – -
Double-Eyed Fig Parrot (Coxen's)
By B. R. DionysiusCyclopsitta diophthalma coxeni
For Jen
Look for the tell-tale signs of our existence. -
The Lecture Last Night
By Ali Alizadehafter Howard Dossor
i
Life is a travesty. I've endured
even worse. Used to be -
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IN PASSING
By Angela GardnerGet lucky, get plucky. Passing
— just passing through — not passing
Buck, or Chaz, or Lou -
Is this the lunch stop?
By Michael GiacomettiOne unwraps plastic
Other gorges pre-made chow
Time to boil? Or blow?
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Haiku overheard at Lone Dingo
By Michael GiacomettiLone Dingo in Alice Springs is an independent store specialising in adventure and travel clothing and equipment. It is the only store of its kind for at least 1500 kilometres in any direction.
‘Any Kathmandu
in store?’ ‘No,’ smiling, ‘only
quality gear here.’ -
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, -
Boot circle
By Michael GiacomettiSpokes of tendon–wool–
vibram–bone radiate out
to the cardinals
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Confession of an inveterate peak bagger
By Michael Giacometti1.
[ … ]
2.
These scaffolds of talus and scree -
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