Crown of Thorns
Euphorbia spenden
Out from white bricks of the church
at the junction of orange clay
and a neglected border garden
its spines strike
into the blue hot afternoon
and where the leaves fall away
insignificant but showy bracts
of small red flowers
like an irritation of blood spots
on an altogether
almost perfect autumn afternoon.
–Jeff Guess
overcast
the blanket grey
overcast frayed ends
with a little light
to bring the sun
through thin threads
as a sewing needle
would patch up
the whole of the sky
before the next storm
while a village of washing
is hung out to dry
–Rory Harris
Wouldn't write about it
They say I didn't write them
Didn't put quill to parchment
Neither poem nor play
Just played the occasional
Small role, a bit of business
Here, a marriage there
Yet remembered forever as
A literary genius
Wouldn't write about it
–Bruce Shearer
denied sap and sun
denied sap and sun
puckered skin in puddle
winter's orange
–Kevin Gillam
rainy, hail, thirteen
rainy, hail, thirteen
— Flinders Street under the clocks —
six missing persons
–Ann Healey
Caress
My vision is intense
Sometimes frightening
But also as soft
As pale blue lightning
Which touches your lids
In an ultimate caress
Of sorrow
And wonder
–James Waller
Layers
My head in the tutu
inserting layers
of purple between white.
A Degas
or a bridal fitting.
Layers.
A daughter,
a mother,
a mother just gone,
metres of tulle,
pins in my mouth.
I remember how
at times of tulle and dreams,
pinned to our roles,
we rub scars into each other.
How words prick.
Tears fall into the tulle.
Without a word
she holds me.
–Josephine A. Clarke
The Feminist Eunuch
What is Germaine to her personality?
Her Catholic childhood I fear,
The Virgin Mary.
–James Morris
The Professor and the Pentecostal
The Professor and the Pentecostal,
_____Who was right and who was wrong?
One was a sceptic, the other an apostle,
_____One wrote essays, the other sang songs.
The Atheist and the Believer,
_____
Who was sane and who was mad?
One was honest, the other a deceiver,
_____One was joyful, the other was sad.
The Artist and the Accountant,
_____Who was fake and who was real?
One was employed, the other redundant,
_____One crushed snakes, the other bit heels.
–Damian Balassone
Arvo Part
This is the music ice makes
as it thaws and trickles
coldness bumping coldness
that gives away such needlepoints
of light
so that after all
the winter dark can be fathomed
and climbed from
a music that accumulates
builds out of air
until finally
inevitably
nothing else is there.
–Shane McCauley
Jeff Guess is a poet from Gawler, SA. He teaches English in country and metropolitan secondary schools, 'Writing Poetry' at the Adelaide Institute of TAFE, and tutors at the University of South Australia. He has had eight collections published, the most recent being Winter Grace.
Rory Harris is a poet and teacher. His poetry collections include Over the Outrow, From the Residence, Snapshots From a Moving Train, 16 poems, and