James R. Harrison

Like black-suited funeral directors

the currawongs assemble,

pall-bearers carrying away the remains of night,

rousing the drowsy air

with their lilting notes.

We stir, drift in

and drift out, lingering

on slumbering shorelines,

till we grope for today’s news, the radio blare

of our lives dissected in sound bites,

traffic reports clogging our motorways

and the next exit just a newsbreak away.

James Harrison is the Research Director of the Sydney College of Divinity and is a New Testament social historian. His interests are the civilisations of the ancient world, reading American and French poetry, seeing live theatre and film, and enjoying good food with friends.