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From: Vol.06 N.02 – Intersecting Energies

sraM naM

by Patricia Sykes

at home with

only Earth language

in his tongue

 

though his astronaut gravity

would rather talk Mars

 

206 million ks at perihelion!

(mantra, mantra!)

 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

 

updrafts of wishful,

purpose, dearth,

 

light-years speeding past

 

+ — + — + — + — +  — +  — +  —

 

while lifespan dwindles in pursuit

 

⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫  ⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫  ⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫⟫

flight of the im/possible

 

his childhood porthole tree

soaring in remembered

deciduous height

 

⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣ ⥣

 

his permanently fleshed limbs

too much an anchor

 

O Mars, red torment,

beloved orbital

 

free of junked Earth!

 

O

 

O                       O

 

O

 

waking, sleeping, incessantly

 

oh yeah!

Published: July 2019
Patricia Sykes

is a poet and librettist. Her collaborations with composer Liza Lim have been performed in Australia, the UK, Germany, Moscow, Paris and New York. Her most recent collection is Among the Gone of It, English/Chinese, Flying Island Books, 2017. A song cycle based on her collection The Abbotsord Mysteries premiered in May 2019.

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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