WR It Ing W a TER: R a in R Iver REEF

WRi ITING DOWN BY THE CREEK WATER: RAIN RIVER REEF POETS TONY BIRCH EUNICE ANDRADA GEORGINA REID LUKE DAVIES

BROOKE SCOBIE Red Room Poetry is Australia’s leading non-profit organisation for commissioning, CLAIRE ALBRECHT publishing and promoting poetry in meaningful MAGDALENA BALL ways. Our poetic projects are created in collaboration with a spectrum of poets, JANE GIBIAN communities and partners for positive impact in core areas of environment, amplification, ANNE CASEY First Nations, youth and marginalised voices. We aim to make poetry highly visible, vibrant, J V BIRCH relevant and accessible to all.

ANNA JACOBSON redroompoetry.org DUY QUANG MAI

RAYNEN BAJETTE O’KEEFE Red Room Poetry acknowledges the Elders and Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, sky JENNY POLLAK and languages where we work, live and write. ESTHER OTTAWAY We are grateful to collaborate with First Nations people and aim to respect their continuing PARIS LAY-YEE cultures as we move across Country. MARGARET OWEN RUCKERT SARA MORGILLO ANASTASIA RADIEVSKA PETER MITCHELL SEAN WEST ANN SHENFIELD ANNE ELVEY SHONA HAWKES WRITING WATER

Chosen from hundreds of submissions, these While those in power continue to ignore rapidly poems look beneath the surface to honour, warming oceans and debate how to divide and deepen and question our essential relationships distribute the diminishing water from the Murray- with water. As they flow through memory, Darling River Basin, it is up to us to remember that loss, grief, and joy, these poems witness with water is life—and it must be protected. As we remarkable clarity the ways that water holds deepen our individual and collective relationships us in our everyday ways of being. These words to this vital life source, let us honour and protect resonate in a time when most of us bear the water every day. weight of disconnection from bodies of water ~ Eunice Andrada amidst pandemic restrictions around the world. Guest Editor In beholding the ceaseless presence of water in our lives, these poems close the distance between us and other human and non-human bodies of water.

In a time of environmental change, several poems ask us to imagine the future of water justice. Rushing in the undercurrents are urgent questions: What have we taken from water? What are we doing or giving back in return? May the questions that these poems ask float to the surface as we think of our relationships with water and the human and non-human communities that depend on it.

As we make and sustain our own connections with water, may we learn the history of these waters and the ways of Traditional Custodians who have cared for water since time immemorial. As a settler on unceded Gadigal land, and as an Ilonggo woman with her own inherited ways of relating to water, I face my own responsibilities to these waters and the peoples connected to them. Reader, as you move within the streams of these poems, I urge you to see the currents that connect water justice to justice for Indigenous peoples. CONTENTS

COMMISSIONED POEMS Raynen Bajette O’Keefe Satellite view downwards 22 Tony Birch Jenny Pollak How Water Works 6 Calling it by another name Eunice Andrada – Easter Sunday, 8am 24 sanctuary 7 Esther Ottaway Georgina Reid Memoir of Water 26 There is Nothing Heavier Margaret Owen Ruckert Than a River 8 Left brain in a bind 27 Luke Davies Paris Lay-Yee From Initiation to Ideation 9 We are the Stars and the Sea 28 Sara Morgillo PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS Above the Twilight Zone 30 Brooke Scobie Anastasia Radievska Coastal 11 The Story of the Flood 32 Claire Albrecht Peter Mitchell cell safety 12 Homecoming 33 Magdalena Ball Sean West Rainclouds are capricious 13 Unhooking the Lip 34 Jane Gibian Ann Shenfield Submerged 15 Magnifications 35 Anne Casey Anne Elvey Pellucid dreaming 16 sun glint drift 36 J V Birch Shona Hawkes Barrier Reef (formerly Great) 18 what school never taught me 38 Anna Jacobson When Dolphins Bring Gifts 19 POET BIOS 39 Duy Quang Mai The Act of Water 21 ONED I SS ONED COMM POEMS

SANCTUARY

~ Eunice Andrada OPEN from ‘sanctuary’

TOWN CRACKING bodies our in divided CRACKING forgetful open cracking TOWN under the sun the under manufactured a new absence

HEAT ANOTHER ANOTHER HEAT SANCTUARY IN THE THE IN SANCTUARY siphoned through remember you who machines be keep to must we sanctuary heat the in by the ministers who negotiated who ministers the by jargon usedwho scientific between rivers the from ancient scales ancient from on their sides, shaping sides, shaping their on SANCTUARY CE ANDRADA EUNICE as water is hacked and hacked is as water and pipelinepore how and expect ground below the town another year of drought another a piecefor of you flow the muddy to iridescence draining draining iridescence for the Murray-Darling Basin Murray-Darling the for of cod float clusters HOW WATER WORKS WATER HOW RCH BIRCH TONY shape shiftonward shape air and bodiesthrough waters other with entwined country soil in in plants in clouds pregnant from roof my rain on love my birth to sun of arctic water of arctic sun south slowly moving rising ebbing sleeping loops of life upwelling seconds centimetres spirit slowly patience beauty and humility your twice daily rises fall gently to again asking stories flow we are who world this within run let water be settle circle cup a hand cup and bone skin well water this heart a beating of molecules life twoone three years thousand

HOW WATER WORKS SANCTUARY in our bodies our in divided forgetful open cracking under the sun the under manufactured a new absence

siphoned through remember you who machines be keep to must we sanctuary heat the in by the ministers who negotiated who ministers the by jargon usedwho scientific between rivers the from ancient scales ancient from on their sides, shaping sides, shaping their on

SANCTUARY CE ANDRADA EUNICE as water is hacked and hacked is as water and pipelinepore how and expect ground below the town another year of drought another a piecefor of you flow the muddy to iridescence draining draining iridescence for the Murray-Darling Basin Murray-Darling the for of cod float clusters

YOUR LIFE-RAFT YOUR

HOUR TO HOLD HOLD TO HOUR

LOOK,ANOTHER LOOK,ANOTHER

~ Duy Quang Mai from AGAIN BE TO ‘The Act of Water’ THERE IS A SEASON A IS THERE HOW WATER WORKS WATER HOW RCH BIRCH TONY shape shiftonward shape air and bodiesthrough waters other with entwined country soil in in plants in clouds pregnant from roof my rain on love my birth to sun of arctic water of arctic sun south slowly moving rising ebbing sleeping loops of life upwelling seconds centimetres spirit slowly patience beauty and humility your twice daily rises fall gently to again asking stories flow we are who world this within run let water be settle circle cup a hand cup and bone skin well water this heart a beating of molecules life twoone three years thousand

HOW WATER WORKS FROM INITIATION TO IDEATION

beach, nuh-uh, a mob beach, nuh-uh, ON ION ITIAT IN FROM ION IDEAT TO IES DAV LUKE Bonfire as initiation. Nothing, not initiation. even as Bonfire Try meaning, not metaphor. ever was as slow I might the I could not experience sand into of sandstone degranulation walking went of us four the and yet here not was (this water the Bondi by at which seemed,yet dusk) walk, this “immediate”; never tends one moment middle of the the in cool preceding millennia the allow the to for I easy sworn Though dip. have I could ago of waves long riots from these remembered atoms like tympanicbooming the membrane on preceding particle reactors by scattered Basin. Sydney I could of the have birth the found least. Mirrah at that, to sworn the yellow-bellied remembered I a starfish. writhing miles off twocourse, thousand sea snake, exhausted the 1993. Or sand in the on last its give me a moment, just trying stand, to just albatross seagulls as wide the wings batshit spread went rage,with not our descending, of which kingdoms, though animal in as known acolyte, that’s myself I count as “gulls selves”. than more presumption None agency. own their battling Everyone 1973 in Avenue Minamurra in relevant was of this creek: the eel! into I stepped when the bull-ants’ And still. echoing shudder That magpie’s pain. of fractals the and those And nest out work to so I had And swoop. relentless as “sandstone” just of de-atrophying vehicle the which it will beach toward the out works years. thousand hundred nine in ideate creek. the in goes rocks,Same clacking smooth those for ER IER HEAV ING NOTH IS THERE RIVER A THAN NA REID NA I GEORG There is nothing heavier than a river. a than heavier is nothing There a life. than lighter is nothing There Is it here we go, we it here Is leave, its takes water when unseen seeping deepest place. the to Love like dust, dust, Love like everywhere once. at fingers through Sliding and splintering shards mirrored minute into world. an untethered in Miscellaneous human crumbs crumbs Miscellaneous human whizzing through air. of light.A mess unending An life. of unformed soup Without its weight its Without be a spectacle we’d particles of glittering gold.grey pink brown It’s the water that pins pins that water the It’s down. us flighty Our atoms, fizzy ideas, our words invisible our held, grounded.

THERE IS NOTHING HEAVIER THAN A RIVER PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS

Calls water to salt Corroboree. Thatto belongs the sea. My native tongue. Toxic andsmothering A lantana language, I heard muffled words of nonsense sugar, in Dusted Floating up face in alake ofgin. I drowned out the shore break Distant water salt Country. Thatbelong I to the sea. She couldn’t understand And the though taste endured on her tongue, Haunted by suffocated song. andlanguid Sodden myBehind skin. by theSalted brackish ceaseless She had my tasted eyelashes, Mob. water Salt Because Ibelong to the sea. clung theWhile ocean to me Into itself. eveningThe further tilted under Sparkling in the rose dusted shadows, In their own time. themI allowed away, to settle andfall Remnants ofmy ancestors. Ever lingering crusted. Salt BROOKE SCOBIE COASTAL COASTAL

RAINCLOUDS ARE CAPRICIOUS

~ Sean West from SANDBANK

‘Unhooking the Lip’ ANO ON THE THE ON ANO

PHRASE, KA KITE KITE KA PHRASE, SHE CURLS A A CURLS SHE IOUS IC CAPR ARE INCLOUDS RA MAGDALENA BALL MAGDALENA This is the last love song,last love the This is I swear demise slow your watching television. someoneon else’s cubes popping Ice a watery song make and deadly soothing wound. an invisible on here it from smell I can heat rising the phenols peat smoke and fruity esters work their done have you into flows every catchment new is lost every something minute space the body into your dissolves you. contains that full cup Your empties river inland while the revealmud saltin patterns flow crystals, against white cheek. the translucent I’ve been believing against evidence groundwater eyes own misted my by the science allafter lab-coated to gives still reason way sentiment. outdrums conversation No roof patter tin the warm. is still sea the but CELL SAFETY CELL RE ALBRECHT ALBRECHT CLAIRE return to the yolk and the to return solitude walledrub her cell’s now there are hundreds of whales hundreds are there now be to real turn their waiting next the than each believing it more and, sparkling,spray of each drop eyeholds a whale perfectly framed forever forcedperfectly into you it helps sometimes forget infinities to small these a gaze that multiplies the world the multiplies a gaze that mirror the and unveils your eye cellsyour multiply iris on iris on iris each other on in probing run reflections you rub the when frame next the into binoculars unfocused like sea, to out twin boats looking twin whales water, the on which is a single cell, you heard, a bobbing,just mass lonely when you rub your eyes rub you your when fingernails long deep with and pullyou feel push the rubbing tides of the pools wet slippery, these you rub skull, your inside trying you are and rub like an egg burst yolkto

CELL SAFETY RAINCLOUDS ARE CAPRICIOUS

IOUS IC CAPR ARE INCLOUDS RA MAGDALENA BALL MAGDALENA This is the last love song,last love the This is I swear demise slow your watching television. someoneon else’s cubes popping Ice a watery song make and deadly soothing wound. an invisible on here it from smell I can heat rising the phenols peat smoke and fruity esters work their done have you into flows every catchment new is lost every something minute space the body into your dissolves you. contains that full cup Your empties river inland while the revealmud saltin patterns flow crystals, against white cheek. the translucent I’ve been believing against evidence groundwater eyes own misted my by the science allafter lab-coated to gives still reason way sentiment. outdrums conversation No roof patter tin the warm. is still sea the but

IN THEIR OWN TIME. OWN THEIR IN

~ Brooke Scobie AWAY, FALL from ‘Coastal’ TO SETTLE AND AND SETTLE TO I ALLOWED THEM THEM ALLOWED I CELL SAFETY CELL RE ALBRECHT ALBRECHT CLAIRE return to the yolk and the to return solitude walledrub her cell’s now there are hundreds of whales hundreds are there now be to real turn their waiting next the than each believing it more and, sparkling,spray of each drop eyeholds a whale perfectly framed forever forcedperfectly into you it helps sometimes forget infinities to small these a gaze that multiplies the world the multiplies a gaze that mirror the and unveils your eye cellsyour multiply iris on iris on iris each other on in probing run reflections you rub the when frame next the into binoculars unfocused like sea, to out twin boats looking twin whales water, the on which is a single cell, you heard, a bobbing,just mass lonely when you rub your eyes rub you your when fingernails long deep with and pullyou feel push the rubbing tides of the pools wet slippery, these you rub skull, your inside trying you are and rub like an egg burst yolkto

CELL SAFETY SUBMERGED SUBMERGED JANE GIBIAN JANE Slips of fish like smears of transparence: of smears Slips of fish like lagoonthe and humming shallow scrape branches paperbark where surf the in men near four wind the in ’s of rock: ringed extrusions wildness, by a nephew; brother-in-law, one two brothers, nephew their two uncles, perhaps or largein a fish Dolphins pod, father. and one ridge spiked of submergedthe rock appearing back a dinosaur’s spume, in momentarily here:From a son, his father, fins. by surrounded swirls disappear in two brothers-in-law lagoon, the foam. By of embroidered black cockatoos banksia open break heads grey beaks, prehistoric with impervious nectar-eaters. of the squabbling the to OUS (CONT) ICIOUS CAPR ARE INCLOUDS RA the water that wets your face your wets that water the only oceanis the left. The clock no longer ticksThe clock no longer There is no other time. other is no There Where am I, who am I I, who am Where spell that break to hominid more one just and fear. desire sick with Not the kind of warmth of warmth kind the Not throat the slides down that forget, deny numb, dies giant kelp edges the at dreams. of your

RAINCLOUDS ARE CAPRICIOUS PELLUCID DREAMING Frozen out of time through space through of time out Frozen part of us greater the gazedHas is known past all that themselves beyond heavens the water. thirds two than more up of is made body human The Note: and has in space originated bodies in our molecule Every water human), (including forms places and different in many existed in life, to Essential dinosaurs. the before to back dating some as sacred. is held water over, world the cultures NG I DREAM ID PELLUC ANNE CASEY CASEY ANNE To realise To all of pieces are we made of each other To carry, baptise, flourish to harbour to flourish baptise, carry, To new life III From dirt stem root to to From light feed to leaf remaking to Body unto body disembodiedBody unto earth into of dust out soaring You have mostly existed outside mostly have You of time More than two thirds of you two thirds than More way the already knows II To be light divisible by To part one two to visible invisible To have the ability gravity the resist to have To of quo out states in To trust without knowing when to hang on hang to when knowing without trust To let go to how To be as complete as the greater part of your self part of your be greater as as the complete To composed I

PELLUCID DREAMING WHEN DOLPHINS BRING GIFTS NG GIFTSING BR INS DOLPH WHEN ANNA JACOBSON JACOBSON ANNA These creatures sense changes sense creatures These pandemic, the ~ during currents in gifts ~ sea-treasures bring dolphins back ~ humans disappearing lure to coral.sea sponges, bottles, barnacled cod, ashore wash dolphins For tuna, ~ for crown Neptune’s King pirate-gold underwater out they from spit of herring, a taste ~ for they nose caves pearls for shipwrecks through way their and clams. oysters in ~ intelligent are The dolphins bleached have humans they know of mackerel reef a taste ~ for the of white. they carry lumps

RCH I ER REEF IER BARR J V B The map is neatly new. The paper, parchment. An artist’s impression. impression. An artist’s parchment. paper, The new. neatly is map The length the aid. I travel as a navigational be used to book perfect. Not Picture green of thick blue. meet powder seconds. in of Queensland Swathes orange of pink ghosts and yellow, edgeA ribbon of colour its bursts with small, big fish and are there effect. And climate the Coral before and purple. will follow. what that’s them. As if trailingjellied Black lines finned. and of Capricorn. Tropic the tracks A turtle sun. spidering a from slithers A snake between Magnetic, Whitsunday. Hinchinbrook, in visible. barely are Islands language is the reef. What to here? Gateways throat. coast’s Beads along the a place closed on ears. In Falling spoken? still Aboriginal are ones many How screaming. that’s (FORMERLY GREAT) GREAT) (FORMERLY

BARRIER REEF (FORMERLY GREAT) THE ACT OF WATER a thirst to chuckle? to like like holding a pound of above? a pound something heavier something why are your children your are why to beto again look, in each hour there is a season there each hour in why is each pound of skin of skin pound is each why monsoon why haven’t you arrived you arrived haven’t why monsoon than the weight of heaven, can you of heaven, weight the than another hour to hold your life-raft life-raft hold your to hour another naming their tsunamis an ark to arrive? arrive? to an ark tsunamis their naming the sky an orange cut an orange sky the you / drop each pulse each / drop you the same sky that holds its rain inside bruised raininside holds belly its – that same sky the fall to / eden, waiting ripe

remember I mud is so much there promised & we’ve bodies whole our / use to through push air into thinned palms have I could / so long so long for of silence out words grate so jump. to beat beat to to reap soft enough are foreign dreams dreams foreign are dear the one above? one the dear down to a tag whitened a tag down to even names are borrowed are even names there is no such thing as ours, thing such is no there are your seagulls writing signs, writing seagulls your are from our mother teeth, whittled teeth, mother our from THE ACT OF WATER OF ACT THE DUY QUANG MAI QUANG DUY

but it pulled but down, last our so low warped inhalation marbles, into rolled earth back to where mud-water hasn’t hasn’t mud-water where climbed thighs our is pacific pacific? history a silver foreheads their making seeI still waves shoreline, the they kiss when is a need be to there I live, when closing starts sky the a dialogue like – in each litre of sea salt, there salt, of sea litre – in each & we thought american, european atlantic european american, thought & we best option is the

THE ACT OF WATER SATELLITE VIEW DOWNWARDS cryptocurrency under ocean cryptocurrency under ocean under president ocean under minister prime ocean under imaginaries settler oceanheartbreak, at ocean at grief-stricken, ocean at tides, hoping pained rejoicing, ocean at I sought feedback poem this on responded only settlers imagining, a beautiful, sidney ferry ride EW DOWNWARDS VIEW ITE SATELL RAYNEN BAJETTE O’KEEFE RAYNEN history under oceanhistory under ocean artefact under oceanunder aerocraft ocean under combat parents under ocean under parents goldfishoceanunder ocean garden under windsill kitchen ocean under postbox first kiss under oceanunder kiss first ocean under apprenticeship ocean band under punk granules under ocean granules under oceanunder dried flowers ocean novellas under ocean under blockbuster melomys cay bramble ocean under bread under ocean under bread ocean scarfs under ocean under prams ocean under spatula

SATELLITE VIEW DOWNWARDS CALLING IT BY ANOTHER NAME – EASTER SUNDAY, 8AM electrifyingly difficult to define describing without is world the how expanded: rising its by first then absence. its by T BY ANOTHER NAME – – NAME ANOTHER BY IT ING CALL 8AM SUNDAY, EASTER JENNY POLLAK JENNY and otherwise leaves the surface surface the leaves charged distant distant and each time closer or more more or closer and each time again vanishes vanishes somewhere else somewhere a splash and with and returns and returns who disappears who And the cormorant cormorant the And All the spent fires of a continent of a continent fires spent All the of trees. Seven days of wood is coming downstream wood of Seven downstream days is coming of rain a river-load with And the river is lost is lost river the And own. glitter a in it doesn’t the sun on the estuary. estuary. the on sun the How cool sea looks the How all blue miles itself to those

CALLING IT BY ANOTHER NAME – EASTER SUNDAY, 8AM LEFT BRAIN IN A BIND

where belief where depth. of your out word an adult ’s you were, in all possibility, taught to float early. float to taught all in possibility, you were, a one-eyed really like hold you up pirate? water can under. buried feet treasure are Your arm. her the of pillow on fluid head flight.in your Rest will hear you not go under. ears can’t Your rush past a flood, is you. in them one of not lilting, drifting, bliss-thing. lesson. next wait for You but in a healthy respect for the call the of water respect for a healthy in but be this true of a liquid. Can top on unknown. the slip into be an aeroplane soon you’ll centuries, advancing You’re inside. lap head and waves your seen drown you’ve All those an entry. forcing breathing up – face down, – bottom floating before? like will it kill of tomorrow, what but solid transparency that water, in belief sinking about LEFT BIND A IN IN BRA MARGARET OWEN RUCKERT MARGARETOWEN ‘A four-year-old in Australia has witnessed on media over 10 deaths over 10 deaths media on witnessed has in Australia four-year-old ‘A by drowning.’ sunbathers like lie around don’t Statistics is someone lying float A backwards edge along a gangplank of anguishYou wings. encouragesfind your to you teacher The you angleShe speaks right back, again she catches gently, enemy the Water’s mouth-drown. Splutter, starfish a feet lift you’re off, Your be can trusted So, water this suspend in abrain left blindfold, wrap to is float To R OF WATER OF IR MEMO ESTHER OTTAWAY ESTHER How many times water has heard my sorrows. sorrows. my heard has water times many How me in. take to me, willing leaves never It cloud – dailythrough to lift power me its Give courage. engenders clean forgetfulnessits that The turbid water that followed my baby out. my baby followed that water turbid The washedmy childin. I water tender The finger-thrill. coldness, its water’s town, home my In dead. poem, petals the rose for paper-boat My Swimming with friends last summer, our bodies our summer, last friends with Swimming children. squealing age, into larger with remade fireworks as bay the night’s in Floating black rippled waves. scribbled a black sky, joy on From toddlerhood: a memoryFrom of careful bending edge. Huon’s the in hand baby my and splashing brain; childhood a saltwater held in learning My river. babies the by her solitary walking my mother

MEMOIR OF WATER WE ARE THE STARS AND THE SEA To save our save To universe. aquatic moon, the on meet man to the rise that waves the Like needwe to come back home.

WE ARE THE STARS AND THE SEA THE AND STARS THE ARE WE S LAY-YEE IS PAR And yet while this vial is clutched in our hands, hands, our in vial is clutched yet while this And anecdote. so is the So when we we So when poison, taint, bleach oceans, our very lips. our to toxins only the holding we’re And just like the vast deep chasm that is our seven seas,seven is our that deep chasm vast the like just And and we waves, the like rise we fall, crash, break, hard. once more. current the into up beOnly to swept in our veins, veins, our in and water body. our through coursing so And cells, our blood,and our genes and our a galactical through ocean.swim But what they mean to say is say theymean to what But is there that stardust They tell us we’re made of and skin. bones Theywe’re us tell Of cells and blood and genes.

WE ARE THE STARS AND THE SEA ABOVE THE TWILIGHT ZONE Supermarket shelves stocked with salmon and tuna and sardines canned up up canned and sardines salmontuna and with stocked shelves Supermarket aluminium in urgent is nothing they can feel how pain there emotions have don’t Fish degrees or a fewabout centimetres to change to do nothing nothing There’s plate all cod you eat your the on sure Make it over sea so kick the oxygen from comes need coral breathe to We it in Hook beach December in walk the by We sea level about metres Rest sand zero on all twilight sun this the under how is doing Wonder is enough pressure there Already, to nourish nourish to GHT ZONE TW THE ZONE LIGHT I ABOVE ILLO MORG SARA Supermarket shelves stocked with ‘flake’ that outlives all of us (or at least, is (or us all of outlives that ‘flake’ with stocked shelves Supermarket supposed to) predator the apex just flake disguisedjust a flake just as nothing all in ocean swam summer the we Cleaning Dive over snapped white coral white drapedline fishing in snapped over Dive dry stays wetsuit my year, last degreeOne time this higher Celsius than Redundant There, we seethe changebeach There, Even the midnight the zone Even is hurting surface its from of kilometres ocean reached the thousands have We Fish would taste like poison if there’s anything anything poison if there’s like taste would Fish find to left Sharks are apex predators; they kill off weak eliminate disease weak off apex predators; they eliminate kill are Sharks They do not need or plates cutlery takeaway do not need in meals up wrapped their The surface rises surface The slowly backs behind our it closer as beckon we shoreline, up Creeps bags oil floats Spreads and bottles robbedThe is blue Raided less and of masses sinks down The twilight zone

ABOVE THE TWILIGHT ZONE

HOMECOMING

~Claire Albrecht REAL BE

from ‘cell safety’ THEIR TURN TO TO TURN THEIR

WHALES WAITING WAITING WHALES

HUNDREDS OF OF HUNDREDS NOW THERE ARE ARE THERE NOW NG ING HOMECOM PETER MITCHELL Was it the rainy moon? A longing for reanimation? moon? reanimation? longing A for rainy it the Was lost? had we sound Forgotten? the of us to a reminder Or us. warned had above weeks week, a for before vault the Two spoke there here, an hour for sky oyster an days, those During purple- days, a as netting; fine on different sprinkles an afternoon for needles; silver of a dirty-washing bruised squalled dome torrents Rivuletsdays. rain for steady long as two patterned firmament gushedspots cliff-facesPooled stories many and down in hills. earth-bound moleculesweek, story for The following gathered times. water streets, along the our on washing hung bread, purchased mailed letters, We clear. was weather the lines. signs write street Now inundation. ignored 1974, Lismore another March In the floodplain;on bricksat mortar & points & depths histories: different your belongings artinstallations. became exposed flotsam, foundations co-joined. system Debbie pressure and a low Cyclone Again March, in River. rumbled and you, Wilsons between them Conversations homecoming Your perfect memory 40 + years, your wasripe. After farm environment, built our way, ancient your In took shape. generations, For became intimates. Scrub and Big land remnants them. lifted returned belongings,we’ve then vehiclesstock moved & away. washed were stories flood this The old was cycle different. Yet stoodwe still; Afterwards, roiled, hearts our soiled.minds reappearance. & awaited hidden mud, now were new stories All your levee? of the construction it the you angry us? with Was Were lessons? speak voice our will your When the only way – only way the sleep. floor like the cover over a patch of firmament – chant-drying of firmament a patch over up they travel entrails their watch – we life. legs our under vine until – your legs moving – your were underneath. of wormlife layer tenth the to a rope – they are a cord they are floodwill the be fed? highest fleeing now are the – even vines cup the in betweenbreaks in landing and chases earth. to newer might down waters run The THE STORY OF THE FLOOD THE OF STORY THE IEVSKA RAD A I ANASTAS feed feed – – feedme Sitting in the wet garden you smashed the land like a cup like land garden the you smashed wet the in Sitting climbed watervines despair of the stupors sat we Where chanting if they keep smashedfloodthe of it – I terrified I wasn’t flame a livid ‘we’, say we When stand? to were if we And

THE STORY OF THE FLOOD HOMECOMING

NG ING HOMECOM PETER MITCHELL Was it the rainy moon? A longing for reanimation? moon? reanimation? longing A for rainy it the Was lost? had we sound Forgotten? the of us to a reminder Or us. warned had above weeks week, a for before vault the Two spoke there here, an hour for sky oyster an days, those During purple- days, a as netting; fine on different sprinkles an afternoon for needles; silver of a dirty-washing bruised squalled dome torrents Rivuletsdays. rain for steady long as two patterned firmament gushedspots cliff-facesPooled stories many and down in hills. earth-bound moleculesweek, story for The following gathered times. water streets, along the our on washing hung bread, purchased mailed letters, We clear. was weather the lines. signs write street Now inundation. ignored 1974, Lismore another March In the floodplain;on bricksat mortar & points & depths histories: different your belongings artinstallations. became exposed flotsam, foundations co-joined. system Debbie pressure and a low Cyclone Again March, in River. rumbled and you, Wilsons between them Conversations homecoming Your perfect memory 40 + years, your wasripe. After farm environment, built our way, ancient your In took shape. generations, For became intimates. Scrub and Big land remnants them. lifted returned belongings,we’ve then vehiclesstock moved & away. washed were stories flood this The old was cycle different. Yet stoodwe still; Afterwards, roiled, hearts our soiled.minds reappearance. & awaited hidden mud, now were new stories All your levee? of the construction it the you angry us? with Was Were lessons? speak voice our will your When

BRING GIFTS GIFTS BRING

DOLPHINS DOLPHINS

PANDEMIC,

~ Anna Jacobson THE DURING from ‘When Dolphins – only way the sleep. floor like the cover Bring Gifts’ over a patch of firmament – chant-drying of firmament a patch over up they travel entrails their watch – we life. legs our under vine until – your legs moving – your were underneath. of wormlife layer tenth the to a rope – they are a cord they are floodwill the be fed? highest fleeing now are the – even vines cup the in betweenbreaks in landing and chases earth. to newer might down waters run The THE STORY OF THE FLOOD THE OF STORY THE IEVSKA RAD A I ANASTAS feed feed – – feedme Sitting in the wet garden you smashed the land like a cup like land garden the you smashed wet the in Sitting climbed watervines despair of the stupors sat we Where chanting if they keep smashedfloodthe of it – I terrified I wasn’t flame a livid ‘we’, say we When stand? to were if we And

THE STORY OF THE FLOOD MAGNIFICATIONS IONS IFICAT MAGN ANN SHENF IELD ANN Before she connected the headphones headphones connected she the Before she said tree the to cracking ice that I’ve been told screaming a child like sounds literally this she meant I knew tree and as the to I listened is a pulse, that or I heard drips in of a heart beating sound the everything concertinaed moment, that In opposite I mean is the although what maybe Besides somebody already else was saying it all shut, slamming everhear we humans thing only The own sound. of our magnification is the edith NG THE L IP THE NG I UNHOOK SEAN WEST SEAN *note: Ka kite ano is a Maori phrase for “until I see you again”* “until for phrase is a Maori ano *note: Ka kite my wrist. When I open my eyes, she holds my I open When wrist. my hook.the is bloodthe line. on There a new fish, mouths something I can’t catch can’t I something a new fish, mouths gills its against as I feel tail thrill the Stroke cracked glass, belly the a light shine cracked into over hand my of his She brushes demise. on the sandbank, presses a mask to my mouth sandbank, my to a mask the on presses wreck, peer the to through out wade We the ocean. I trace his voice, watch his face ocean. float his watch voice, the I trace ano Ka kite a phrase, She curls surface. the to drowning yet guides me until we’re neck-deep we’re yet guidesuntil drowning me I picture when She asks about I think who across rocks, vortex in my ears: voice my her in rocks, vortex across as signal if to rip, of the is a raised out hand room where there is no running running is no there where room moon. waxing or I hear it weir water to someplace beyond someplace to reach. She invites eyes too-bright this in my close me to his lip, slips him back into shoalshis lip, slips him back into eddy off him feet that’ll our beneath for Courtney Sina Courtney for Mer hands her in name my She cups unhooks fish, an undersized like

UNHOOKING THE LIP SUN GLINT DRIFT those who keep it now in it now keep who those care to according law this it is not hers place goods of stolen receiver woman the retreats givescreek a liquid land to testimony NT IFTDR INT GL SUN ANNE ELVEY ELVEY ANNE who came by light water for tucker or tucker for light by came who water song without certainty she imagines the without elders who mightwho is not quite be but estranged the woman disappears into its age its disappears into a woman the visitor where currents are both repeated & repeated both are currents where new a possibility in of cooperation reflection unshifting on unshifting flow though she witnesses a multitude of small a multitude though she witnesses sparkles this is private this talk a woman is not the is not the a woman scene as creek replies as replies creek mirror a name for what speaks this day to speaks day this what for a name water

SUN GLINT DRIFT To Ideation’ ‘From Initiation ~ Luke Davies from WHAT SCHOOL NEVER TAUGHT ME CLAIRE ALBRECHT Claire Albrecht is a Newcastle based poet. She was SHONA HAWKES the 2019 Emerging Writers Festival fellow at the State Library of Victoria and a Varuna ‘Writing Fire, Writing Drought’ fellow, and will be a resident at the Helene how long it takes to heal a barren riverbank Wurlitzer Foundation, New Mexico in 2021. Her debut how to keep the faith that the water birds will return chapbook pinky swear was published in 2018 and her

how to train your eyes to see a flash of platypus poems have been published internationally.

EUNICE ANDRADA hoarding is a crime, not a conquest Eunice Andrada is a poet and educator. Her debut poetry collection Flood Damages (2018) won the a word for the longing of a floodplain when the waters no longer come Anne Elder Award and was shortlisted for the Victorian or for the memory of birds on pilgrimage to a forest grieving its trees Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry and the Dame Mary Gilmore Award. She has performed her poetry how to read the rips below a smooth surface on diverse international stages, from the UN Climate Summit in Paris to the Sydney Opera House. Her ecopoetry has been recognised through the awarding any word in the language this land speaks with its people of a residency and fellowship presented by Australian and what it takes to earn the right to learn it Poetry and Nature Art and Habitat Residency (NAHR). the proper shape of the seasons She lives and writes on unceded Gadigal Land.

how to see terror in the silence MAGDALENA BALL Magdalena Ball is a novelist, poet, reviewer and interviewer, and Managing Editor of Compulsive the land is a teacher you will never surpass Reader (compulsivereader.com). She has been widely trust is a measure of time published in literary journals, anthologies, and online, accountability is a mathematics of action and is the author of several published books of poetry empty words are a weapon and fiction, including, most recentlyHigh Wire Step (Flying Island Press, 2018), and Unreliable Narratives (Girls on Key Press, 2019). theft is a habit we learn from our parents

the most vicious untruths are told with brutal certainty J V BIRCH J V Birch lives in Adelaide. Her poems have been sorry can take whole lifetimes to say published in a number of anthologies, journals and WHAT SCHOOL NEVER TAUGHT ME and is only heard in the quiet of justice. magazines, including Australian Love Poems, Grieve, Plumwood Mountain, Not Very Quiet, Magma, Cordite and Mslexia. She has three chapbooks with Ginninderra Press – Smashed glass at midnight, What the water & moon gave me and A bellyful of roses - and a full-length collection, more than here. TO ALLOW FOR ALLOW TO MILLENNIA THE THE PRECEDING DIP. EASY COOL POET B I OS ‘How Water Works’ ~ Tony Birch from WHAT SCHOOL NEVER TAUGHT ME CLAIRE ALBRECHT Claire Albrecht is a Newcastle based poet. She was SHONA HAWKES the 2019 Emerging Writers Festival fellow at the State Library of Victoria and a Varuna ‘Writing Fire, Writing Drought’ fellow, and will be a resident at the Helene how long it takes to heal a barren riverbank Wurlitzer Foundation, New Mexico in 2021. Her debut how to keep the faith that the water birds will return chapbook pinky swear was published in 2018 and her how to train your eyes to see a flash of platypus poems have been published internationally.

(UQP, 2019) 2019) (UQP, (Singapore) and (Singapore) Fragments Slippage Lit , Cordite Conspiracy of Skin The Last Postman Amnesia Findings (Picaro Press, 2009). As a queer As a queer 2009). Press, (Picaro was awarded a Highly Commended a Highly Commended awarded was . Rabbit, Verity La, Soft Blow The Scarlet Moment (Ireland), (Ireland), Conspiracy of Skin awaits a publisher. At present, he is working on his first full on his first he is working present, At awaits a publisher. The Loam of Memory and more. Anna’s poetry chapbook Anna’s and more. The Blue Nib and was a finalist in the 2018 Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize. She is also is also She Prize. Poetry Dawe Bruce in the 2018 a finalist and was , among others. , among others. PETER MITCHELL S LAY-YEE IS PAR ANNA JACOBSON ANNA ILLO MORG SARA SHONA HAWKES SHONA Meanjin, Rabbit, Peter Mitchell is the author of the poetry chapbooks is the author Mitchell Peter Paris Lay-Yee is a 16- year old student who enjoys poetry writing and enjoys poetry writing and enjoys who enjoys old student year is a 16- Lay-Yee Paris for Her inspiration and debating competitions. speaking in public competing be a speech she’ll from came the stars and the sea” are her original poem “We to hopes She acidification. on ocean this year competition at a national delivering of poetry a book herself. publish one day SideWALK Chicago Quarterly Review, Griffith is part 2018) Press, of the deciBels 3 series. (Vagabond Review, Australian Poetry Journal, Cordite, and 2018) Press, (Ginninderra Styluslit Anna Jacobson is a writer and artist from Brisbane. and artist is a writer Jacobson Brisbane. Anna from active in community radio and currently based in London. in London. based currently radio and community in active through the Epidemic collection of poetry, of poetry, collection Sara Morgillo grew up in a suburb near Fremantle/Walyalup, Western Australia. Australia. Western near Fremantle/Walyalup, up in a suburb grew Morgillo Sara jobs, and different working nature, exploring years has spent the past three She Word at Spoken featured has Morgillo Sara diver. scuba a professional becoming been have Her works launch. Slam Youth and the WA Club, Poetry Perth Perth, chapbook and her debut and Mulla Mulla Press, Writers Underground by published in 2018. Press Hectic Measures by and launched published was Bones’ ‘Moth in the 2019 Wesley Michel Wright Prize for Poetry. His memoir, His memoir, Poetry. for Prize Michel Wright Wesley in the 2019 poet living in Lismore in Bundjalung Country, he writes poetry, memoir, short memoir, poetry, he writes Country, in Bundjalung poet living in Lismore forthcomingfiction and literary in international criticism. His writing has been or is His poetry and anthologies. magazines is and national print and online journals, in published is her first full-length poetry collection, which won the 2018 Thomas Shapcott Shapcott Thomas won the 2018 collection, which full-length poetry is her first Writing Contemporary for Prize the Nillumbik won In 2020 Anna Prize. Poetry Fellowship. Writers a Queensland was awarded Nonfiction) and Creative (Open Award. and Writers Publishers Young Premier’s Queensland the she won In 2018 in literary and anthologies including Her writing has been published journals Shona Hawkes grew up in a country invented by brutal men, on the unceded brutal the unceded men, on by invented country up in a grew Hawkes Shona in been published has She nations. the Kulin lands of

. and The Irish and . Davies , winner , winner . Both books Candy White on White journal and holds journal Catch-22 , with a third , with a third Contemporary Shadowboxing Common People Interferon Psalms , which was shortlisted, which was and The White Girl and (2019) and (2019) Blood , winner of the 2016 Victorian Victorian of the 2016 , winner Dark As Last Night Contemporary Australian Feminist Beautiful Boy , The Promise Plumwood Mountain , Lion Ghost River On arrivals of breath Father’s Day won the Age Book of the Year Award. Award. Book of the Year the Age won (Puncher and Wattman) and and and Wattman) (Puncher and a new short and a new story collection, Totem where the lost things go and out of emptied cups . . (Hunter). She was awarded a Varuna Poetry Flagship Fellowship for 2020. for Flagship Fellowship Poetry a Varuna awarded was She (Hunter). (starring the late Heath Ledger), Heath Ledger), (starring the late newspaper’s Most-Read. Most-Read. newspaper’s Lion RCH BIRCH TONY ES IES DAV LUKE ANNE ELVEY ANNE JANE GIBIAN JANE ANNE CASEY ANNE Poetry (2018). She is outgoing managing editor of managing editor is outgoing (2018). She God of Speed Candy Whisper Songs Tony Birch is the author of three novels: the bestselling the bestselling novels: three of is the author Birch Tony Luke Davies is a poet, novelist and screenwriter. His novels include include His novels and screenwriter. is a poet, novelist Davies Luke Australian Poetry Anne Elvey acknowledges the Boonwurrung people on whose land she lives and the Boonwurrung land she lives people on whose acknowledges Elvey Anne books are Her most recent works. Times collection and a chapbook forthcoming in 2021. Anne has worked for 30 years 30 years for has worked forthcoming and a chapbook in 2021. Anne collection author. and legal director media communications editor, magazine as a journalist, and rank in internationally writing and poetry widely published are Anne’s Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and and Writing; Indigenous for Literary Award Premier’s Jane Gibian’s poetry has been anthologised most recently in most recently poetry has been anthologised Jane Gibian’s honorary positions at Monash University and University of Divinity, Melbourne. of Divinity, honorary and University positions at Monash University for the Miles Franklin Award in 2012. He is also the author of the author He is also in 2012. Award Miles Franklin the for three shortthree story collections, of the 2020 NSW Premier’s Award for Indigenous Writing, and shortlisted for and shortlisted for Writing, Indigenous for Award NSW Premier’s of the 2020 literary prize; Miles Franklin the 2020 won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. His film and television credits include credits include television His film and Literary Award. Minister’s the Prime won Originally from the west of Ireland and living in Australia for the past 26 years, the past 26 years, for and living in Australia of Ireland the west Originally from of two poetry and author poet/writer is an award-winning Casey Anne collections— In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award for his contribution his contribution for Literary White Award the Patrick awarded In 2017 he was books, a poetry book, two new In 2021 he will release literature. Australian to an activist, is also Birch Tony Press. of Queensland University by will be published and essayist. historian was nominated for an Oscar, and won the BAFTA, for Best Adapted Screenplay Screenplay Best Adapted for the BAFTA, and won an Oscar, for nominated was for

WRITING WATER POET BIOS

. He is Lite Lit One was released by by released was , and . Chaos and Plants . in 2020 and 2019. His work appears or His work in 2020 and 2019. , Beauty , -based poet and workshop facilitator. He’s been shortlisted He’s facilitator. poet and workshop -based Blue Bottle Journal Antithesis Journal, Bareknuckle Poet Meanjin Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize The Planthunter: Truth D ID RE INA GEORG IEVSKA RAD IA ANASTAS SEAN WEST SEAN ANN SHENFIELD ANN IE SCOB BROOKE the endlessly curious and varied ways humans relate to the natural world. In world. the natural to relate humans ways varied and the endlessly curious of design a range to contributes Georgina editing The Planthunter, addition to first Georgina’s her work. about regularly and speaks publications and culture book, Georgina Reid lives and works in the trees on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, River, on the banks of the Hawkesbury in the trees works and lives Reid Georgina of The Planthunter editor founding and the a writer She’s – just north of Sydney. an international grown has in 2013, launching since that, an online magazine and questioningexploring, to documenting, commitment its fierce for reputation Anastasia Radievska is a policy researcher and law student living on Gadigal land. on Gadigal living student and law researcher is a policy Radievska Anastasia in poetry, histories and collective of personal in the interweaving interested is She freedom. of spaces open up new can these way and the You Can Get Only So Close on Google Earth for the for Sean West is a West Sean is forthcoming in Ann Shenfield has worked as an animation filmmaker, illustrator and writer. and writer. illustrator as an animation filmmaker, worked has Shenfield Ann to the selection prizes, including numerous received films have Her animated received Her poetry Festival. has also Film Competition at the Berlin Official her collection for Award Poetry Wright the Judith prizes, including various Brooke Scobie is a queer Goorie woman, single mum, emerging writer, and writer, emerging single mum, Goorie woman, is a queer Scobie Brooke Sydney West in South country on Bidjigal and bred born was She worker. community about is most passionate In her writing, Brooke on Darkinjung land. lives and now using the imagery of Country. and family love identity, that centre stories telling Thames and Hudson in 2018. in Thames and Hudson founding editor of editor founding

won won the Stilts , Musefood was critically was and others. He is the and others. to (Story Factory, 2018-19). 2018-19). (Story Factory, to Overland , Journals the Australian Poetry Journal , – a collection of tanka. of tanka. a collection – . and Intimate, Low-voiced, Delicate Things, Cordite , The Lifted Brow , Sky on Sea , a collaborative poem written as a Renga in 62 stanzas in 62 as a Renga poem written , a collaborative Homeward and in leading newspapers, literary and and in leading newspapers, journals Blood Universe: poems on pregnancy Meanjin

Shadowplay esther-ottaway-poet.jimdosite.com ESTHER OTTAWAY ESTHER RAYNEN BAJETTEO’KEEFE RAYNEN DUY QUANG MAI QUANG DUY MARGARET OWEN RUCKERT MARGARET OWEN JENNY POLLAK JENNY The American Poetry Review Thirty Australian Poets Esther Ottaway is an award-winning Australian poet who often writes about about writes poet who often Australian OttawayEsther is an award-winning poetry prize, largest shortlisted was She the world’s in experiences. women’s anthology in the noted Her poetry features in 2020. International, the Montreal Raynen Bajette O’Keefe is an artist, writer and community worker, living is an artist, worker, and community writer O’Keefe Bajette Raynen practice, a dance have They (Sydney). lands Gadigal unceded on and working family somatics, body, the from and write in film studies, and a background guiding which is a work, in restorative interested are They and place. history, of a number across worked have They mediums. them, across for practice time. projects, through mediums, and Duy Quang Mai is from Hanoi, Vietnam and is currently an international student student an international and is currently Vietnam Hanoi, is from Duy Quang Mai forthcoming from or are been published His poems have Australia. in Sydney, with the British Poet Philip Gross, was published by Flarestack Poets, UK. Poets, Flarestack by published was Gross, Philip Poet with the British Margaret Owen Ruckert is an award-winning poet of the 2019 SWW poet of the 2019 National is an award-winning Ruckert Owen Margaret of eight the author is She in 2007. having won Poetry, – Competition Writing most recently collections, anthologies. Her book anthologies. Her book author of the chapbooks author at will be released in early 2021 by Puncher & Wattmann. Esther’s work is online work Esther’s Wattmann. & Puncher 2021 in early by will be released For most of her life Jenny Pollak has been a full-time artist, focusing her arts artist, has been a full-time focusing Pollak Jenny most of her life For installation, a time which also and video sculpture in photography, practice African various with congas and flute musician playing years as a five included a poetry In 2012 she began and NSW. Sydney bands around and Latin American has Jenny Prize. Poetry ACU in the inaugural 3rd she came and in 2013 practice, Her poetry Prize. Poetry Dawe and the Bruce Prize Poetry the Yeats both won in has been published an IP Poetry Book of the Year. As facilitator of the Hurstville Discovery Writers Writers of the Hurstville Discovery As facilitator Book of the Year. an IP Poetry writing workshops. regular she presents in Sydney acclaimed and her new collection, collection, and her new acclaimed journal, and in various anthologies, including Australian Award-Winning Writing Writing Award-Winning Australian anthologies, including and in various journal, 2018, In 2017.

WRITING WATER Text pagesprinted by DigitalPress Cover printed by andinserts Rizzeria Designed by BillyBlue Creative and generous individuals. With thanksto our andcollaborators: generous supporters and Red Room Poetry Poems collectively selected by guest editor Eunice Andrada of theauthors have beenasserted. individual works remains withtheauthors. Themoralrights prior written permissionofthepublisher. Copyright ©in system, ortransmitted inanyform orby anymeanswithout ofthisbookmay bereproduced,no part stored inaretrieval criticism orreviews, aspermitted undertheCopyright Act, This anthology iscopyright. Except for private study, research, redroompoetry.org First published 2020by Red Room Poetry NETHERY LAWRENCE

LOVE LIKE DUST,

EVERYWHERE AT

‘There is Nothing Heavier Than a River’ a Than Heavier Nothing is ‘There

ONCE. from Reid Georgina ~ SLIDING THROUGH FINGERS AND SPLINTERING 54

redroompoetry.org