December 2021
Selectors: Coral Carter, Rose van Son, Barry Sanbrook and Gary De Piazzi
Contributors:
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half-buried leaves
paving my way
to retirement
autumn meadow
all those flowers
without names
spring festival
the beggar’s bowl full
of apple blossoms
Hifsa Ashraf
________________________
trailing cloud
a lorikeet shakes rain
from the wattle
lockdown
the carousel pony
tethered with webs
as she left it
the silver strands
in her hairbrush
Gavin Austin
________________________
hunger moon
the bird feeder
full of snow
pandemic
gradually I become
the oldest
Mona Bedi
Delhi, India
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stubblefield
the combine harvester
heads home
Pitt Büerken
Münster/ Germany
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the banker
talks with his hands
mockingbird
Alanna C. Burke
Santa Fe, New Mexico. USA
________________________
old fountain—
just a wish
back in time
Christopher Calvin
________________________
owl
the question is
who?
mist—
ration of summer
rain
early summer wind
when winter’s breath
won’t fade
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
________________________
old Catholic church
I kneel
to tie my shoe-lace
ripe mulberries
I carry them inside
on my boots
all washed up
he turns the tap on
as I speak
Candy Gordon
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trembling
those shoulders
she used to ride on
Sherry Grant
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the magpie
rounds up a border collie
swooping season
road workers
morning tea
merges into lunch
auction day
under the hammer
my heart
Louise Hopewell
Melbourne
________________________
tracing my lineage—
skeletons dismantled
bone by bone
Marilyn Humbert
________________________
breakfast rush
ant circles
the sugar grain
Zina Ioannou
Sydney, Australia
________________________
posle oluje
u paukovoj mreži
dugine boje
after the storm
in the spider net
rainbow colours
Mile Lisica,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
________________________
empty oil can –
his rocking horse squeaks
from trot to gallop
John Low
Portland NSW
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sunlight shadow
a fly
there not there
eucalyptus trunk
mottled and scarred
my legs
Mardi May
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spring grass
her hands
too old to weed
high tide
you massage
my feet
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
________________________
a fish leaps each scale a sun caught moon
Annette Mullumby
________________________
park walk …
even through my mask
the scent of wattle
Leanne Mumford
Sydney, Australia
________________________
simply
counting the crows
one
Julian O’Dea
Canberra
________________________
after my swim
I carry the beach
everywhere
cooking for one
she leaves the door
ajar
Gregory Piko
________________________
stone wall –
our names once carved
beneath the moss
Kodokushi …
on a buddha bamboo leaf
a dragonfly’s shell
Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
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outside the school
an assembly of
red and green P plates
Carol Reynolds
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reading class
the pre-schooler stumbles
over ‘calabash’
coastal path
the rhythmic thump
of surfboards
Cynthia Rowe
________________________
last day of summer
the last drop drips
from the clothesline
Manoj Sharma
Kathmandu Nepal
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melaleuca
limbs of
torn paper
dusk
dawn
night intervenes
Barry Sanbrook
________________________
rough night
he makes soldiers
for breakfast
Liv Saint James
________________________
Verdi in the park
a currawong outsings
the soprano
Tom Staudt
Sydney, NSW Australia
________________________
laundry day
we learn to wring out
our anger
Debbie Strange
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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the cracks
of a bone-dry dam
appear in my hand
Kaelin Stemmler
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school break …
cairns and castles
dot the beach
weeks of rain
the reclaimed swamp
returns to itself
summer dusk
the shoreline studded
with starfish
Lyn Reeves
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farewelling a friend
with MS – i stumble
on her walking frame
Duncan Richardson
________________________
opening door
votive candles
turn as one
Quendryth Young
________________________
almost summer
taking the temperature
with my feet
Tony Williams
Scotland, UK
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