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States of Poetry ACT poems

(For my sister, Joanne)

Slowly the days pass.
Buses, cars, bikes
all roll away, away.
She is gone, down a shady street in shiny shoes.
Way above, vapour trails burn the sky
and way below, scars burn the land.
She screams, but I can’t hear.
In another street, the new suits,
suit themselves, and colours burn red and gold.
Noisy bastards. Shu ...

In this episode of Australian Book Review's States of Poetry podcast, Paul Hetherington reads 'Gap' and 'River' which feature in the 2016 ACT anthology.

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In this episode of Australian Book Review's States of Poetry podcast, Jen Crawford reads extracts from 'abandoned house music' which features in the 2016 ACT anthology.

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In this episode of Australian Book Review's States of Poetry podcast, Jen Crawford reads 'lopping' which features in the 2016 ACT anthology.

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In this episode of Australian Book Review's States of Poetry podcast, Jen Crawford reads 'reshelve' which features in the 2016 ACT anthology.

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Your kind friend sent a condolence card
and in the envelope a small white feather
which, she said, seemed to come from nowhere.
Angel's wings obviously, I wrote in my reply.
And for days after everywhere I went
I found small replicas, as if some tiny
feathered thing had scattered its moulting
on urban pavements, in shops and unlikely
bathrooms, a ...