Susan Hawthorne

overhead an alphabet of birds fly

crossing through one world to another

handkerchiefs in the wind

unbraiding gravity

vines grow between earth and sky

elastic strung from sky hooks

moths fly blind in daylight

circle like the hands of an accordion

player in the mania of a fast riff

at noon poplars gloat leafing clouds

their shadows a necklaced track

dappled light gravels the ground

Susan Hawthorne’s latest poetry collection is Lupa and Lamb (2014). Others include Limen (2013), Cow (2011), Earth’s Breath (2009), The Butterfly Effect (2005) and Bird (1999). Cow was shortlisted for the 2012 Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize and Earth’s Breath for the 2010 Judith Wright Poetry Prize.