Poems
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Marine Demonologist
By Michael FarrellWashed up here they had, in a sharkskin suit
and flippers. Pants open like a devil in a wheel-
barrow. It felt rough that day, the weather: hat
blown off, heels broke in the wind -
This Is How We Heal
By Scott-Patrick Mitchelli am saying to you
words i say to myself
words i feel you need to hear
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White dwarf
By Emilie Zoey BakerHi, so I got one of those DNA tests done.
I wanted to find you, I guess.
Or know something about you.
Wanted to see if I’m an apple or a platypus, -
Blueprint No. 6: Rosemount Street
By Zenobia Frost1.
The front room is Heather’s studio, where paint still glistens on a portrait of a goon bag pegged to a Hill’s Hoist. The back verandah is a filled-in slither of bathroom, with toilet at one end and shower at the other. In the photo on the plaque, the house is just a gift box: one room, ribbon of balcony.
2.
Heather tells me the place isn’t fire-s… -
The Small-M Mother
By LK Holtreceives happily the rebukes of Rilke’s angels,
knowing how she imperfects
her each son’s epigenesis.
But she hate-watches the Sixth Elegy; -
Dream Genres
By Graeme Miles1: More Rooms to the House
1
He’s forgotten a door until today
in the weatherboard bungalow. -
Cycle
By Jeanine LeaneRiver flows
rock is solid
hill stands still
Country turns seasons -
after the show
By Scott-Patrick MitchellSpirit walks into the room
sits down beside me
nods
smiles as if smiles -
Cancer Verses
By LK HoltCancer versus accepted practice.
Cancer versus omnicompetent AI:
the Paperclip Maximiser who construes then collects:
all shall be paperclip, -
on how to be a bird
By Scott-Patrick Mitchellsurrender. give in. have faith that jumping,
submission first, will yield results: how
else can a fledgling be expected to leave a
nest? disappointment is grounding. success -
She Was Told To Have A Birth Plan
By LK HoltUnlike des Esseintes’ tortoise, gold-plated
alive and inlaid with jewels, and too heavy to move,
she had a plan. Between each ‘pang’
when the world’s contracting thus -
Black Swan
By Jeanine LeaneFor aeons, you sailed beyond their dreams
black swan – rara avis – mythical bird
skirting shores unimagined – sailing south
of impossible under aurora Australis on -
Exhibition
By Jeanine LeaneNAIDOC week in the national capital –
a collection at the museum displays
the finest of Aboriginal culture to the settler nation.
Boxed, framed, encased, encapsulated artifacts, -
Scenes from a Documentary
By Maria Takolander1. Ursus maritimus (Polar Bear)
A clash of icebergs △◻⟡▷◁⟡◻▽strewn on the frozen shore.
The wind and the wandering animal ~ are dreamt
by the blinding ~ drifts of snow. -
Anorexia Nervosa Verses
By LK HoltMiddle ear is the altar of the goddess of Os.
Beyond the flesh-sketched helix of outer ear
(the whole Outer’s a fruit gone bad in the bowl)
is a discipline ‘for life’ and a pure métier: