by John Bartlett 

wattlebirds wait for darkness
to loosen the dreams of children
for days to taste of peace

Dianella fibres like silk
strong enough to resist
the callous winds of winter

river redgums along the banks
of my childhood suffered
dumb rage of axe and saw

autumn dew drops from leaves’ length  clear
dear atonements  of magpie song 
slice the crisp air into a day full of sky

where is that untouched world
its birds wide-winging
cormorants their dottled dipping 
scratching the surface
of mirrored creeks               where

 John Bartlett is the author of eleven books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. He was winner of the 2020 Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize, Highly Commended in the 2021 Mundaring Poetry Competition. His latest poetry collection is Excitations of Entanglement.

by Tony Norris

I was born         foaming
          at the crux of  
where salt   meets   water
two things your diet needs
but cannot have together
and I the deity of every motivation on earth
       cannot be divined
without being dissected
    not even in my birth
 
but I was born    longing
before you
spent my life
being chased
being made un
til I became
pearl-like which is to say
girl-like which is to say
weary eyed from being
lapped at but rarely swallowed
 and all this time
I knew I was ancient
but forgot I was also  hallowed
 
it is true, what the Greeks think
there is terror in the beautiful
there is beauty in the terrible
 
when you first saw me I saw you
tremble
 
     I was  cradled in a clam shell
 
naked
arm on breast
hand on _____
 
this became my symbol
not for pleasure, not for modesty
but to be born     knowing
what it is like
to hold
            and to be held

Tony (he/him) is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based performance poet. He has been a state finalist for the National Slam Championship and has hosted Rainbow Open Mic Nights with Gold Coast Libraries. Tony started out at Ruckus Youth and Voices of Colour and has been a featured poet at numerous creative events across Brisbane. 

by Izzy Roberts-Orr 

If you spend enough time with the trees
you begin to feel endless.

There are some here I'd wager
almost three times your lifetime
triple your wingspan
more than ten times your height.

Your handspan – a trick of the eye – 
the same branches bolstering sky.

The trees bow and remember.
They'll fall, humbled by termites
hiding homes for the busy lives
of spitting possums and the
parenthetical bodies of galahs.

The trees know they'll fall
but continue standing all the same
through downpour and drought
blazing heat and smokestacked,
encroaching flame.

Izzy Roberts-Orr is a poet, writer, broadcaster and arts worker based on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Izzy is Creative Producer for Red Room Poetry and a 2020-2022 recipient of the Australia Council Marten Bequest Scholarship for Poetry. Her debut collection, Raw Salt (Vagabond, 2024) was the recipient of a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship, and longlisted for the Colorado Prize for Poetry.