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From: Vol.08 N.01 – Embodied Belonging: Towards an Ecopoetic Lyric

In the bright Parthenon of the heart

by Jenny Pollak

The longer I stay the less I feel
the specific  

boundaries of flesh
The way the insects move

beside me is how compatible we are
The difference is the body

The edges of which
must finally dissolve    and leave me

my insect

soul
my conscience

of stone

It is enough

the heron skates over the pale platform of herself

For months I have been losing a large part
of what I thought it was

to be
in the world

The wings of the terns as they fly towards me
are eager as knives

My heart fills more easily
with many small things

It’s possible to say my heart is full
just seeing the still breasts of the gulls

drawn downwards into perpetual columns
on the wet sands

Published: November 2021
Jenny Pollak

began a dedicated poetry practice in 2012 after having been a full-time artist for over twenty five years. Her poetry has been published in various journals and anthologies, including MeanjinCordite Poetry ReviewThe Australian Poetry JournalVerity La; and Australian Award Winning Writing. She won the Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize in 2016 and is currently working on her first two poetry collections.

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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