Writer + Editor
Poetry Smörgåsbord
Assorted forms
Here is a selection of poetry from the archive I've amassed over the years.
The first is a series of haiku I wrote about and from within a McDonald's restaurant, on the wrapper of a cheeseburger I consumed during the same visit.
Below is one of two free-verse poems published by Baby Teeth Journal.
Shy
There’s a gecko who lives in our compost
sitting under the lid
nabbing the little
flies
that
circle
there
so numerous and tempting
She scurries away
hurriedly
when I open the bin
shy
not wanting to be a bother
not wanting to be bothered.
This poem appeared in Edition 10.2 of the University of Queensland's biannual journal Jacaranda.
Amongst it
I love walking through a city
below steam issuing from some unknown orifice
like she’s smoking a cigarette from upturned fingers
coy and Hepburnesque
or hanging limp from lip
all film-noir cavalier
like the metropolis just poured a coffee
to have with her morning paper
black as the smog speckling crowded buildings
like myself in younger days
on the way to school come winter
giggling at the sight of my own breath
billowing into the air
and honking horns
amid screeching tyres
are the haughty cackles of my friends
taunting each other
making games from the everyday
excited by life, unafraid
as long as we’re together
our visible, vaporous breaths proof:
We’re here
amongst it.
Sunscreen and Ketamine
Bumpy~waters
keys to leisure—
Relax and bury
your n se
in
^ ^
the sand
White-tipped wwwwavessss
break
carrying us
from mundanity to tranquillity
Just mind
(the hole) ⇨ ajsncj¿vj@emk
your digging; *nxjàsn&s3jcn#s
it’s easy qbspfgvm$ogkk
to go =b{
too deep…
Put out
a
line
Catch Feed
some rays the gulls
everyone needs a treat
from
time
to
time
This experimental poem appeared in Melbourne-based journal Mantissa.
Imagine yourself as a long aggregated slug of every you you've ever been or will be.
A prose-poem that appeared in the online publication Sent Folder, 'Slug Line' was a collaboration between myself and architect Belinda Smole, my text accompanied by her design.
Slug Lines
Imagine yourself as a long aggregated slug of every you you’ve ever been or will be. Space and time exist on a singular plane.
Every movement is saved—every triumph, every indiscretion, every inexplicable trip to the kitchen.
Like motion realised in a continual open-shutter, wherever you go the past goes with you, as the thread follows the spider.
Every iteration of that Nokia 3310 snake of you remains. Meandering, running, circling, flittering—doubling back because you forgot to lock your car.
Where does your trail bunch? Perhaps it bundles before the fridge, prone to snacking as you are.
There are also moments and places in which your trail tangles with someone else’s—a friend, a lover, or even a kelpie cross cattle dog.
Where, by contrast, does the thread run thin? Maybe there are places where scant little can be found, places you anxiously avoid, like dental practices.
What does all this, your recorded ongoing trajectory, that silvery snail trail, say about you?
Somewhere between sci-fi poetry and flash fiction, this piece appeared in Creature Magazine.
Barter in the Forthcoming Wasteland
Today I sold something that used to be called an iPhone.
But I call it a Hen-Wizard.
I reverse-engineered it in my shack from foraged junk.
The person I sold it to asked what it was for.
They were unimpressed by the ability to take
what was once called a photograph.
But they liked the ‘Maps’ function,
even though ‘Sydney’ meant nothing to them;
the pattern it made was pretty and sparked their curiosity.
I traded the Hen-Wizard for a handful of their dried beans; Adzuki.
They were reluctant to give me a full fist.
But I persuaded them to part with some that were off-coloured.
Wait until they figure out how janky the Hen-Wizard is
when they accept suggested updates!
No taksies backsies.
As the smog-shrouded sun sets
on the poisoned landscape of former, so-called Sydney,
I stir my pot of simmering Adzuki beans
with a smile.
'Space, Time, Continuum' appeared in Issue 3 of Riverstone Journal: Thread.
It's too long to feature here, but you can enjoy it on their website.