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ARTS AND CULTURE

Autumn on Australia Street

  • 22 May 2012

Australia Street

I know it's autumn when exotic importslose their cargo of leavesEmpty branches startle the skyNorthern cut-outs curling in the suncatch on fence wire at the schoolflooding gutters after rain

In summer the gumtree in our yardslims down, mindful of the dry spellOily crescents pressed underfootsoften the asphalt under the lineLoose bark hangs in strips for weekslike forgotten underwear

Gum nuts line the pathway to the bintiny hulls, our hidden progeny. 

 

Un-titled

Dark handsbeat the silenceCurled tight they holdthe anxious moment— let others slip by

Years of blacknessspread across the palms— rivers dispossessed_______tributaries__going nowhere

Time runs outwith the present fear— a lifeline held__in metal cuffs__caught at the wrist 

 

Truce

A man carries a childon shouldersbraced for war

Small handshold armsraised in surrender 

Brenda Saunders is a Koori poet from the Wiradjuri Nation. She has just had a chapbook Firestick published by the Varuna Writers' House at Katoomba. She was resident there recently as the Dorothy Hewitt Poetry Fellow for 2012.