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From: Vol.12 N.01 – The Braided Gift

After gardening

by Jem Rice

We don’t expect epiphanies
for pulling out dried roots— 
only observe that people look primal 
when feeling fruit for ripeness
and are prone to leaving air-con rooms
for the southerly’s full-body rush

Documentation’s a pest
uprooting us from our home in the present—
here we meet our minds
through soil in fingernails
removing oxalis from strawberries
like anxious neural circuits

Coming home
my body throbs for stillness—
I sit, swampy muscles 
set by oncoming breeze

Some realisations require
an ignorance of deadlines—
I miss the submission date
waiting for the southerly to come

Published: November 2025
Jem Rice

is a Sydney-based poet writing on Gadigal and Gamaraigal land. She enjoys exploring themes of locality, ecology and materiality in her work. She holds a Bachelors degree in English and Japanese Studies.

An Australian and international
journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetics.

Plumwood Mountain Journal is created on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to elders past, present and future. We also acknowledge all traditional custodians of the lands this journal reaches.

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