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From: Vol.01 N.02 – Making way for other kind

Meteorologica

by Alice Allan

In the morning you notice

the spiny palm in next door’s garden

has a sickly lean.

 

It’s probably older than you

 

a thousand yellowing arms

pointing all directions.

 

On your white kitchen tile

by your white kitchen bench

you wonder

if roots can knit like bone

 

if a better use of your time

would be to climb the fence

and wedge yourself

against the trunk.

 

The first night

your breath condenses

under the wailing flight path.

Up and down from the Austin

sirens tell

disasters

and minor disasters.

 

            I’ll never finish On the Road.

 

Eventually, the trunk rubs away skin.

People bring

cushions, guitars

looks of concern.

 

You become

friends with your neighbour’s

kids, his wife starts

avoiding the back garden.

Published: July 2014
Alice Allan

is a writer and editor living in Melbourne. Her poetry has appeared in Southerly, Cordite, Rabbit, and Going Down Swinging, along with the first issue of Plumwood Mountain.

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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