by Linda Albertson 

Her smile reaches me before I hear her footsteps -
I pull her on like a dressing gown, keep

her smile in the pocket. Smiley-face yellow 
is her favourite colour. 

When she is sad, the skin on her face glows
blonde like a full moon behind cloud. The imprint

of her three-year-old body still lies
warm on my mattress. The wonder is this – 

what I love about her 
I don’t recognise in myself.

Linda Albertson lives and writes on Yuin Country. Her poems have been published in Ginninderra Press anthologies. Her chapbook, Overdue, was published in 2016. @sip_a_poem

by Ren Kato 

I reside in this room
of darkness
Trepidations
tap dance around me
It feels like
my soul is a carcass
and my mind is the vulture

Longing to listen to your music
I can’t recall
the day I started to decay
I have even forgotten
what country I’m in
Perhaps it’s been too long
since I’ve seen the sky

Ren Kato is from Brisbane. He recently published his first poetry collection Reflected Fractures. Instagram: ren_kato_poetry

by Rory Hawkins

It coughs, spits, flumes
light in all directions.
Audio cracks, the screen
blooms hot white.
 
Dial it all down and blink
like mad till the retinal imprint
fades. How do I stay in focus?
 
Eyes and lense adjust
to find an answer: open rum
bottle in favoured hand, left
forms a red ball of light.
 
Billowing smoke, blushing
sand—pink as lips, cheeks,
fingers, and toes. You hold
the flare like everything else:
 
at arm’s length. Tiny
crabs sprinkle at your feet,
chasing tiny shadows.
​
Rory Hawkins is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based writer. Find more of his prose in ScratchThat magazine issues 4 & 5, the upcoming issue of Inkblot and through his Instagram @rory_writes_sometimes