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From: Vol.06 N.01 – The Everywhere of Things

cusp

by Janet Jiahui Wu

sea brims sobriety    bell and sorrow may partake    much loathed destiny    of dejected things
yet when you learn to see    lurching forward    in the chthonic fen    a low spreading of
cosmic sense    that ever worse is ending    collecting banana leaves    sowing loquat seeds
mending buttons    sawing jacks    each retains distance    proportion of relation    candles and
scents    hovering next to the box of incense    a buzz that signals    a leaning back in response
in leaning toward   sitting uncertainly    moving without momentum    euphoric    neurotic
mistaken the seasons    free floating bookmark across a page in time    artificial intelligence
may know   make art and sign with its logarithm    in a row of applicants    in a row of
waiting    collecting tickets    being a ticket machine    collecting money    counting it
counterfeiting as though it is the most original act    pretending    as though it is the most
natural act    drapery    in gold and blue and crimson    pillows without heads or feet
conscience without the burden of conscience    oh father clown and an overgrown boy    send
me a painting etched with rust    a line of dripping ink over dirt    meadows flooding
everything    mind containing nothing    neutral fists bump like two sponges    neurons flitting
in bog of blood and wires    womb    birth    miracle    a wonderful thing    code written in
genes guide our every action    folding clothes unironed    milking goats on a clean pasture
stalking prey like a hunting fox or dog    learn to pray like the dying    predict from electric
current to electric current    a story under each fallen leaf    fish in line end up biting    thrown
deep into the water    survey the strange creatures like argonauts    spilling sap and slowly
fading away    as reasons wane    the mountains lay waiting    as nations rage    the evergreen
still green    as bombs hit    a skirt is lifted    as veils fall    legs are raised    in the trough    a
vine is growing    in its vein    some juice is made    water goes up    life remains    web of
lights like nightly twinkles    an island sinks    nurdles drift    and pigeons still make love
sun summons everyone to wake    systematically    everyone does

Published: January 2019
Janet Jiahui Wu

is a visual artist and a writer of poetry, drama and fiction. She has published in various magazines. She currently resides and works in Adelaide, South Australia.

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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