Marking Time

by Glen Hunting 

This place’s wounds
are sacred ranges,

sagging houses, 
scarified sedans.

But body art can’t disrupt
the eruption of buffel.

Only the blossoms
move with the seasons:

spectra in rubble
waiting beside the rails.

Standing room only
for refugees after rain.

Glen Hunting is a writer from Perth, Western Australia (Boorloo, Whadjuk Noongar boodja), now living in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) on Arrernte country. His poetry has been published in Plumwood Mountain Journal, Meniscus, Portside Review, London Grip New Poetry, Burrow, and elsewhere. He was the recipient of a 2024 Varuna/Arts NT residential fellowship.