Category Tanka

by MARGARET RUCKERT signs of a city a tanka sequence in this department store glittering marble and glass no expense spared staff interview applicants in the rush-hour café no-exit signs hang from black ceilings in this shopping dungeon I hear…

by PAULINE CLEARY as autumn winds gust the dragonfly darts to ground trapped between seasons – I stand at my gate and watch youth pass, neither child nor adult slumping in doorways cast adrift in city lanes the homeless and…

by JO WHITELAW squeaky front gate and uneven stone path to verandah steps – the back doorknob rattling as it welcomes me home Childhood home, Yallourn North, VIC air thick and hot as echoes close around me a sign ‘do…

by NICOLETTA GLOD steps muffled in roasted orchard darker blues between branches with every leaf departing the final burning crown of glory lighting the sunset

by MEGAN CARTWRIGHT stinging nettles trail tendrils to the inlet’s mouth limpets, we climb rocks of weathered honeycomb to scatter ashes below

by JENNIFER SUTHERLAND returning to my childhood home a breeze tinkles the windchimes I can almost hear my mother’s voice calling us in for dinner the park fills with fluorescent birds at the lantern festival I disappear like a raven…

by kENT ROBINSON cold creeps in with the stars the promise of a first frost this autumn evening all is quiet apart from the breeze in the blue gum crowns

by PAT SAUNDERS satin splashes across lace-embossed breasts with brollies held high tipsy heels dangling vomit catching toes

by MADHURI PILLAI sunlit fluffs of floating clouds – I watch my dog watch rising hot-air balloons in deepening dusk the park reverberates with soaring cicada songs… melding into the shadows a man and his dog gym foyer… after the…

by JENNIFER FELL strings of tinsel around the camellia… a worker waves the bulldozer toward the emptied house Davies Street, Warragul, VIC today’s murmuration of starlings – specks of mud flit across my windscreen Plantation Lane, Abbeystead, Lancashire, UK