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From: Vol.04 N.02 – What are the animals saying?

lorikeets

by Chloë Callistemon

from under the squawking tree

not feathers but leaves ink the sky

the flutter of wind flicks fig leaf gloss

over the names of things in the dark

their weak sheen unbroken

by the shadow of arcs preening

creaks and screeches storming

the smell of clouds about to break

and swallow every word left behind

outside scratching like ice against glass

the sounds of syllables left to fall

from the tree full of rainbows

black against the almost black sky

Published: July 2017
Chloë Callistemon

is a photographer, filmmaker and writer. Her poetry and multimedia have been published in journals and anthologies including Cordite, Rabbit, Australian Poetry Journal, Australian Love Poems and Contemporary Australian Feminist Poetry. She is a PhD candidate at Griffith University, Queensland.

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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