Tag Edition1

Kent Robinson

the hours of shadow herald their arrival through moonglow leather of wing, they swoop to prance about the quandongs

Allison Reynolds

sunburnt main street smiling faces, hats and boots behind doors sighing El Nino takes all breath away dust, smoke, tears in rural eyes

Madhuri Pillai

wetlands… two pacific black ducks glide past the reeds away from the madding crowd the world as it should be through the canopied bush track past glistening Yarra… our conversation gives way to the whispers of gums hitting the ball…

Jan O’Loughlin

ficus trees stand watch in the old asylum grounds the lunatics have left colonial buildings crumbling in the summer rain moment to moment the changing hues of this harbour inlet under the matte blue of a windswept sky lunch break…

Jo McInerney

a grazing cow’s unfocused stare … mountain ash and giant chimneys fall unnoticed silt jetties fringing the Mitchell … memories of childhood play on narrow sands

Hemat Malak

London plane trees guardians of Picton town stand mortified morphed from grand to clown with gawdy fairy lights — Picton, NSW

Keitha Keyes

autumn leaves a tourist attraction in Canberra — foreign embassies amongst exotic trees in our capital politicians pose for photos by the lake … a flock of galahs nearby settles to primp and preen willy wagtails dressed to the nines…

Samantha Sirimanne Hyde

crack of dawn light pierces the quietude my breath meditation fuses with cicada song cremation urn … the empty house full of echoes your life’s belongings scattered on the patio in the cemetery a cracked tombstone lying on its side…

Marilyn Humbert

from Kata Tjuta’s red domed monoliths the wind laments across desert plains to solitary Uluru dawn breaks splashing the shore I collect shells and sea glass, wonder at their journeys at his grave beside fresh dug earth I’m surrounded by…

Jeannie Haughton

under the vastness and stardust of outback skies mosquito whine-slap – her homecoming an itch that always entails scratching each elegant whirl the silence of windmills south coastal background to the dervish clash of toddlers and waves oppressive the heat…