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From: Vol.07 N.02 – Writing in the Pause

When the forest shrieked

by Sophie Finlay

drought glides with breaths of dust

burst of plume

roping

tip

 

fires are given names, converge in rivers —

Ruined Castle joins with Green Wattle Creek 

other fires spin into thin tornadoes, emitting fuel like pulsars

 

forests break in cellulose, cinders rain

and lap the shores

the waves are black, we are breathing this in

radiant wounds

screech

long-nosed

long-footed

spot-tail

large-eared

glossy black

log runner

pouched

spiny

ground and bristle

 

posed ash-stiff in      alizarin

supplement feed the galaxias, the alpine fauna, the swamp skinks

 

seed-bank mint bush and bottle brushes

tolerance unknown

Published: October 2020
Sophie Finlay

is a visual artist and poet from Melbourne. Her poetry is published in multiple journals including Meanjin, Australian Poetry Journal, Cordite Poetry Review, Plumwood Mountain journal and Shaping the Fractured Self, UWAP. She has been a finalist in several art prizes including the prestigious John Leslie Art Prize.

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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