Michael Aiken
lantana, eucalypts, stept
from a shell on the shore of the sea
pacific and awake
to nothing.
I was born with small birds in my eyes,
hair of sticks, leaves of sand
paper coarse and wild on the edge
a single lawn, a grove in the mountains.
Sacred place, elided and eroded
erased.
I emerged from bamboo
I enter bamboo groves, a forest-copse
semi-seen.
I am the silvereyes and coucal pheasants
never remembered
a fox on the beach carefully eating eggs.
Michael Aiken is a writer and singer from Sydney. His writing has appeared in various publications including Best Australian Poetry, unusual work, Shampoo and foam:e. His first collection, A Vicious Example: Sydney 1934 1392k1 – 1811 1682k2 was published by Grand Parade Poets in September 2014.
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