There Are Poets Among Us

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/14/world/australia/there-are-poets-among-us.html

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Australia Diary collects reader tales revealing Australia’s unique character. Share yours with us and check out our previous installments.

Cowes

By Christina Aitken

Atduskshe flipson the sandthe sun slips past hershadowed arms welcoming the dark

Melbourne

By Kelly Hill

You and Istroll hand in handalong a much-trampled pathcrushed rocks shifting beneath our feetwhile all around useucalyptus sway and dancetheir fragrance moves through the airmasses of banksiaa feast for the eyesi watch the bees flit from each bronzed brushand the leukodendronunfolding like starsbeside delicate clematis bloomswe stop at a bridgelistenas water skitters over a jagged creek beda gentle melodyholds me closeas a kookaburra’s voicequakes in the distanceglacial windgrows in strengthas we huddle togetheryoulike alwayskeeping me from veering off the pathcaptivatedby birds of every coloursinging tributes to the trees.

Launceston

By Don Defenderfer

There is the first full moon of autumnRising through the gums Slanting up the river valleySpreading silver on the river’s whirls.The moon humbles my candle And seduces an owl to call. The moonlit gums become full of silky boughs and velvet shadowsAnd every leaf stands individual and clear, Every boulder gains a distinct shadow and The river glows like mercuryAs it sluices through the buttongrass sedge. The Earth tilts and time passes; There is no going back to summer. This is the time to reflect and make amends. This is the first full moon of autumn, Rising above the eucalyptus trees, Slanting up the river valley, Spreading lightKnowingly.

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