March 2021
Selectors: Coral Carter, Rose van Son, Barry Sanbrook and Gary De Piazzi
Contributors:
__________________________________
dawn fishing
my dog laps
the moon
Adjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana
__________________________________
closed borders…
travelling the corners
of my house
lockdown—
we scribble our names
on a dusty car
Umashree Anandalwar
__________________________________
the koi pond
two shades darker
autumn rain
turning off
my camera’s flash
the heron’s pose
all the paths
we did not take
cloud streets
Debbi Antebi
London, UK
__________________________________
barbed wire fence
the missing trajectory
of falling stars
winter melancholy
the twists and turns
of a snail trail
Hifsa Ashraf
__________________________________
through sunlit reeds
the stillness
of lake water
moving a mountain
crumb by crumb
one ant
two hands…
one to hold
one to wave goodbye
late summer sun
on his board shorts
bleached hibiscus
Gavin Austin
Sydney, Australia
__________________________________
overload—
dung beetles
quit the cattle corral
Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia
__________________________________
tropical storms
the names we learn
to fear
stretching
the truth
seamstress
Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa, USA)
__________________________________
13th throw
the boomerang comes back
—unfortunately!
Pitt Büerken
Germany
__________________________________
funeral home
pebbles in a glass vase
half-empty
Rohan Buettel
__________________________________
monsoon afternoon
his words
lost in thunder
shutdown
the entire house
washed and dried
Alanna C. Burke
Santa Fe, New Mexico. USA
__________________________________
sudden rain
empty shells
of snails
Gabriele Cavallo
__________________________________
dusty path—
a crowd of crows
sets off old arguments
Lysa Collins
__________________________________
a door stopper
the new politician’s
biography
divorcing my wife
the black ice on the road
to her lawyer
a brown bag
with figs
my past summers
Maya Daneva
__________________________________
you and me
a brick wall
too high
outback
heat shimmer the only movement
and flies
dogs on leashes
chased by dogs
behind fences
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
__________________________________
dandelion in a breeze
the dervish dances
his last dance
Radostina Dragostinova
Sofia, Bulgaria
__________________________________
sea wind–
through her veil
the taste of salt
filling the holes
in our argument
rustle of leaves
David Käwika Eyre
Volcano, Hawai’i
__________________________________
waking the dead
the bustle of women
in the kitchen
corpse
the heavy odour
of flowers
Mike Gallagher
Ireland
__________________________________
low tide—
the calming vibrations
of a seashell
her 86 Springs …
a swirl of yellow petals
in the wind
Goran Gatalica
Croatia
__________________________________
bushfire threatens
I gather my mother’s paintbrushes
and her ashes
Candy Gordon
__________________________________
fluttering Julia*
remnants of the
autumn sunset
Dorna Hainds
USA, Michigan
*Julia Butterfly
__________________________________
old travel diary
a sprinkling of sand
between the pages
nan’s slippers
on the wrong feet again
tangled knitting
vegan café
the hipster waiter’s
cheesy grin
river dusk
high in the old gum
a fruit bat unfurls
Louise Hopewell
Melbourne
__________________________________
sliver moon stringing my fishhook
Edward Cody Huddleston
__________________________________
bush walk
thrumming cicadas
drown our words
Marilyn Humbert
__________________________________
red maple leaves
our path sealed
for winter
Mona Jordan
__________________________________
watching
the cricket
still life
Bee Jay
__________________________________
summer hammock
the thyme bows to the weight
of the bee
Josie Lim
Tasmania
__________________________________
blue shimmer…
the dragonfly waiting
on the lake reed
outside the op shop…
a bird scratching
the bare ground
Earl Livings
__________________________________
sudden downpour—
his flimsy craft sails
the gutter’s current
John Low
Portland, NSW
__________________________________
where the rope
once hung
missing tree
face masks…
clouds fly past
our tiny windows
the aerial roots
of a banyan tree
this covid world
Myron Lysenko
_________________________________
in this wind
birds are helpless
confetti
Mardi May
__________________________________
zoom meeting …
checkerboard faces talking
on mute again
Rob McKinnon
__________________________________
curbside pickup
the hooker’s red mask
undone
family album
a thousand-piece puzzle
in the making
nude beach
posted
masks required
the odds
of life after death
grains of sand
Nika
__________________________________
back from the vet
with only
the leash
Julian O’Dea
__________________________________
bushfire …
a wombat drinks
packaged water
Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
__________________________________
meditation hall—
the sudden ping from
his pocket
weeding—
the loose ends of
my marriage
Nisha Raviprasad
Kerala, India
__________________________________
orange moon
the kumquats
plump for jamming
moon-washed bay
the rescue helicopter
still searching
Lyn Reeves
__________________________________
social isolation
the grey I never
knew about
another book sold
I ransack the house
for a copy …
billabong …
an unknown shape
beneath the lily pads
Cynthia Rowe
__________________________________
cooking dinner
for the homeless shelter
I eat a bowlful
walking our
usual loop, our
usual quarrel
Miriam Sagan
__________________________________
guitarist
his tattoo
an octave
mottled bark
a continent
of patterns
Barry Sanbrook
__________________________________
Australia Day—
mum’s voice on the phone
drowned out by galahs
Rob Scott
__________________________________
hometown visit
now just a patch of dirt
my fairy garden
jazz in the park
a shriek of parrots
overhead
Maureen Sexton
__________________________________
ashes journey …
in every step
my papa
a damselfly
folds its wings
your sudden adieu
Neena Singh
Chandigarh, India
__________________________________
stop light—
red dot against
the floodplain’s sky
Alice Stanford
__________________________________
sun bakers
and lunch breakers
sharing the lawn
sandbar
the ebb tide
folds and unfolds …
Tom Staudt
Darlinghurst, NSW
__________________________________
dog hair on the couch
last lingering trace
of my friend
dead wallaby
greets the nose
Kaelin Stemmler
__________________________________
rainy season
the fringed parasols
of fungi
river stillness
willow branches comb
through my hair
Debbie Strange
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
__________________________________
news of your passing
hear you whisper again
in my ear
Rose van Son
Vale Patricia Kotai-Ewers
__________________________________
the muezzin’s call
reminds me
it’s opening time
Roger Watson
Hull, UK
__________________________________
watching her die
the other half
of a moan
David Watts
__________________________________
Easter—
tulips unfurling
in their beds
the tap tap tap
of old pipes…
the hours before dawn
Elaine Wilburt
Easton, Maryland, USA
__________________________________