Jane Gibian

from nowhere                               oversized leaves shoot

roundness against charred ground                     coal-black

that blackness                a ceremonial mourning for the death

of the glacier                 a dark patch of density

like ground glass            in the lungs

a day warms, loosens                            plaits untwisting

around the shoulders

almost hand-sized                    leaves of lucid green

emerge            from burnt trunks

sandpaper on one side             the other velutinous

claret shine of miniature shoots

amongst monsters

enlarged:           daylight, termite mound, birdsong

compressed:                coolness, moisture, twilight

plants gather clues

that augur combat

the day warms, loosens

disappearing                            in the restless mosaic

of eucalypt canopy

each leaf extant

holding fast

Jane Gibian is a poet and librarian whose work has been anthologised most recently in Contemporary Australian Poetry (Puncher and Wattman) and Contemporary Australian Feminist Poetry (Hunter). Her publications include tidemark (Vagabond Press Rare Object series) and Ardent (Giramondo). In 2020 she will be undertaking a Varuna Residency Fellowship.