December 2020
Selectors: Coral Carter, Rose van Son, Barry Sanbrook and Gary De Piazzi
Submissions Manager: Jaya Penelope
Contributors:
__________________________________
late sunlight
the bleached bones
of swamp gums
so tiny
in my cupped palm
a ladybird
deepening shadows
a currawong
calls the night
Gavin Austin
Sydney, Australia
__________________________________
emptying itself into itself spring floods
after rain …
the umbrella becomes
a staff
Taofeek Ayeyemi
__________________________________
winter seaside
a lone dog chases
all the breakers
wild brambleberries
i ignore
the cuts
unable to let go
the old wall
and the ivy
afterwards
her best china
used at last
summer dusk
a white cat gathers
the last light
Michael Baeyens
Geraardsbergen, Belgium
__________________________________
swans—
Victorian ruffles
and petticoats
too late
to turn back
geese
Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa, USA
__________________________________
mobile phone tower
overloaded
with parcels
Rohan Buettel
__________________________________
a towhee
skates across the birdbath
first frost
not seeing
what’s before me
star gazing
campaign rally
dogs join
coyote chorus
Alanna C. Burke
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
__________________________________
Canberra
hidden by fog
first week of the election
cars stop
for me to cross
in another state
Ramadan
slim new moon
we walk to eat
intersection—
a dragonfly crosses
against the lights
Coral Carter
__________________________________
shouting
in capital letters
online argument
love
never confessed
pressed flowers
dandelion fields …
how you blow things
out of proportion
Hemapriya Chellappan
Pune, India
_______________________________
footfalls
crunch the gravel path—
no dog barks
Lysa Collins
__________________________________
black cockatoo in the hakea
a tough nut to crack
rosellas devour flowerbuds
colour now
not later
bleached coral frames
silent canaries
stripped of their down
lichen
two lifeforms entwined
a moonscape on earth
beneath the creek’s smooth surface
perch swim to stay still
Natalie Cooke
__________________________________
paying respect
to fallen soldiers
rising sun
Stella Damarjati,
Adelaide, Australia.
__________________________________
dad’s last letter
only a question
mark
Maya Daneva, Netherlands
__________________________________
leaves rustle
an open book
under the tree
in her eyes
the face inside the face
in the mirror
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
_______________________________
a bright juicy apple
full of worms
our marriage
dense tire tracks
the friendships
we leave behind
Radostina Dragostinova
__________________________________
our prayers choke
the rattling sounds
from her throat
a direct question
the teacup handle gripped
more closely
Mike Gallagher
__________________________________
lapping up
the long lockdown
pandemic puppy
Louise Hopewell
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________
moonrise
the swell of apples
in the orchard
grandpa
the tap of his stick
the tilt of his hat
Marilyn Humbert
__________________________________
Nature is a kind of magic
which must not be neglected
Geraldine Ingram
__________________________________
rumble of a chainsaw
the fog around it
cut to pieces
Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia
__________________________________
cloud scraps
drift across the lake—
barely a ripple
duck dive—
measuring absence
in ripples
spring shower—
her canvas chair sinks
in the yard
John Low
Portland NSW Australia
__________________________________
clothesline
a cabbage moth flirts
with a white peg
Mardi May
__________________________________
cooking our catch
from the coals the smoky aroma
of paperbark
rush of wings
in the marsh high grasses
the bird I didn’t see
Mark Miller
__________________________________
the woodland path
leads me to a clearing
shakuhachi music
time to savour
a pot of fragrant tea…
working from home
Leanne Mumford
Sydney, Australia
__________________________________
Hiroshima Day
grandpa uncle grandma aunt
brothers-in-law
equinox
niece brings
new rice
Guliz Mutlu
Turkey
__________________________________
finding face
with finger tips
—foggy mirror
suraj nanu
India
__________________________________
mums funeral
a lone crow
edges closer
Jan Napier
__________________________________
after Mass
children jumping over
sidewalk cracks
holiday fireworks
war vet and dog retreat
to the basement
waiting his return …
on her windowsill
wishbones
Nika
Calgary, AB, Canada
__________________________________
the iris
beside the road
marks the spot
spring walk
the dog raises
his tail
deep in her wardrobe
the clothes
of a young woman
Julian O’Dea
Canberra
__________________________________
country dance the whirl of a willy-willy
quilter’s yarn
I don’t take long
to lose the thread
star gazing
all these cherry blossoms
beneath my feet
old dog
I set the bar
lower
Gregory Piko
__________________________________
powdered neck …
a string of cultured pearls
plays hide and seek
Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
__________________________________
one by one
crows land on a branch—
daily attendance
Palle Krishna Rao
Chennai,India
__________________________________
condemned cottage
swallows nest
on a charred beam
dog beach
my old mate’s shadow
running free
Lyn Reeves
__________________________________
weathered stone
a little rain left
in each divot
pelting rain
one less duckling
than yesterday
cleaning a hairbrush
the last bits of us
still entwined
autumn rain
an acorn cap
full of it
the bookends
growing further apart
winter solitude
Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois USA
_______________________________
approaching bushfire
my aunt tosses the silver
into the dam
homeless man
a pigeon lands
on his shoulder
online schooling
lessons without
boundaries
Cynthia Rowe
__________________________________
a coot’s bottom
no decorum
her feet flap
broken twigs
a crack
as I walk
Barry Sanbrook
__________________________________
home isolation
stirring In
the spices
Manoj Sharma
Kathmandu, Nepal
__________________________________
tonight’s news of your passing scent of your favourite cigar
how even the blue morning spreads across prairie skies
Silk, USA
__________________________________
Instagram—
influencer’s post
feeds my guilt
Padma Srinivasan
Dundee, Scotland, UK
__________________________________
first crayons
the little girl makes
a zig zag rainbow
Rajeshwari Srinivasan
India
__________________________________
moaning ravens
the only companions
of a scarecrow
two old men
split a nation into
blue and red
Tom Staudt
__________________________________
Grand Final
yellow and black daisies
on my brother’s grave
filling
the dentist talks about
wedding cake
I ponder
the philosophy of Homer
Simpson
Mary Stone
__________________________________
candy cane snail
it takes time to earn
your stripes
unkempt graves
the poppies that once
stood at attention
the portal
of a wren’s nest
lockdown
Debbie Strange
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
__________________________________
Sunday Mass
blessing myself
with alcohol gel
forty years married
less kama
and more sutra
Roger Watson
__________________________________
a haircut and a shave—
seeing but not knowing
the beggar
Elaine Wilburt
Easton, Maryland, US
__________________________________