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.