Poems
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Epistles
By Holly IsemongerDear Chris, I am in rehab, but you know this, having dropped me off this morning. It’s cold and the light is part glue. Where is my God moment? No rush. I’m told metanarratives are of no use here. I said the teeth I have are healthy— hell, I put them on my gratitude list. I’ve been collecting all the love down below, if you follow, but when will I… -
Miinimbi
By Bebe OliverBefore the luggers farmed the pearls,
before the missionaries carved into our mouths,
miinimbi moved the edge of gaarra,
singing beside Bardi and Jawi -
Wambuul Oceans
By Aniesha Louise Ah SeeYamandhu marang?
I asked the Wambuul in its lament
Still I was endless in wiraygulbanha
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rat patootie
By lotus threads, Panda Wong, Hannah WuO symphony of crackle
lil rat dominatrix tell me
what to do pull my hair
with yr tender paw mincemeat -
Muriyira Dreaming
By Elizabeth Luland'Muriyira Dreaming' written and performed by Elizabeth Luland. Videography by Tad Souden and sound by Syd Green.
garuga-ngayawanj muriyira lore
mudjingaal ceremony has begun
ngarawan barra barra warmth -
Burri Burri
By Emma StewartThe whales call to us.
Like an umbilical cord
Stretching through salt water,
our sacred connection -
Flight Calls
By Bastian Fox PhelanIn swampy woodland, between two stands of trees
On Awabakal land, I wait, listening
The trees are alive with sound
Surround-sound chiming of the bell miner / kowoman -
I don’t need to tell you that rain is poetry (the earth is an open mouth)
By Pascalle Burton'X marks the spot—the whole thing’s an X.'
from The Ignoramus of Love by Destroyer
this morning, I stepped outside
it had rained overnight -
A Manifesto (Written) in Salt
By Noelia RamónNot proclamations, not carved marble promises,
not headlines, not smoke rehearsing its pose.
But the hand of wind rearranging clouds,
the alphabet of rain sketching itself away -
Smothered
By Mahalia CharlotteThe women in our family hold our trauma in our spines.
Backs bodies breaking under burdens; matrilineal line of
heightened hysterical hyper-aroused harpies.
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english shackles his tongue
By Nathan Mudyi Sentanceit is a box with a few holes to let air in
he smiles
tightly coiled
knowing the air -
Dragon Fruit
By Xiaole ZhanWe didn’t see the dragon fruit lights
arriving late as we did, thinking of
Popo and Gong Gong’s graves
which we would visit the next day. If only -
Richmond
By Nam LeSurely now, that sense of crow’s nest sway will ease
now we are brought down
first me, then my brother — my mum now —
and our memories -
Born to Fight
By Kaitlen WellingtonBlak curly hair
Brown skin
Brown eyes
Broad shoulders -
There are Rivers Underneath the Sea
By Dženana VucicEverything begins like this: with a shipwreck;
one body rent against another,
salt and silt,
waves lapping at the crest of another world. -
Vroom Vroom Plays In The Background
By Madison GodfreyBehind the wheel, I press the ball of my bare foot against the worn ridges of the accelerator. The road opens into a series of soft curves without speed signs. Each bend feels as though it was drawn by someone practicing the letter s in cursive.
I grin at paddocks of cows, imagine the taste of grass. Picture cartoon cowboys with frayed yellow wheat… -
Whale Wattle Sonata 1 For Two Violins
By Eric AveryOn the intersection of Poetry, dance and music
When I was young I remember being taken by my mother to the South Coast and seeing the ocean and playing my violin and how it spoke to each other - the notes and just hearing.
I didn’t know that world but I must have heard it - so it was there in the Country. -
Whale Wattle Sonata 1 For Two Violins
By Eric AveryOn the intersection of Poetry, dance and music
When I was young I remember being taken by my mother to the South Coast and seeing the ocean and playing my violin and how it spoke to each other - the notes and just hearing.
I didn’t know that world but I must have heard it - so it was there in the Country. -
Bees of the Antipodes
By Shaine MelroseI water my vegetables, fill bird bath, collect myself from doubt,
human, flood, drought. I watch two bees working the same pollen-
less flower, fly east, then west, north-south, their sacks empty.
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Carrot Flowers for Bertha
By Alex Creece—onyx velvet—
—dash— —dreaming of—
—paradox— —porosity—
—creatures— —missing so much—so much—
