Toby Fitch
deep-red from rose-dirt my orchid
left the back porch with an awkward gait
headed down the swamp which it entered
head first open-mouthed before i could speak
it was kicking its roots like legs luring comets
to criss-cross above when two finally collided
the sky switched channels to static cutting
the night with a knife i gaped back down
orchid was gone in the deep-red swamp
were rhythmic gelatinous ripples as tho
invisible pebbles were being dropped at
perfectly repeated intervals been staring
into space ever since ecstatically deep
the branches stoop & the leaf-eyes dilate
searching my garden for the remote
Toby Fitch is poetry editor for Overland. His books include Rawshock, which won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry 2012, Jerilderies and, most recently, The Bloomin’ Notions of Other & Beau. He lives in Sydney where he also works as a bookseller and a teacher.