by GAVIN AUSTIN

Alberton Cemetery

A tanka sequence

clouds part
as ladders of light span
liminal spaces
a walk through time
into this thin place

magpie flutes
filter from gumleaves
overhead branches
carve deep shadows
whispering of the past

marking the place
you were lowered
at age six
the slow crumble
of stone under moss

ghost flowers
in granite shade
eroded names
taken by the years
of wind and rain

• Alberton, South East Gippsland, VIC