Poem: Our own garden
Layering old papers for the good of your garden is one way of getting rid of bad news, suggests this week’s Poet’s Corner contribution from Will Hall.
Our own garden
Shovel blades break the earth
Squeeze toothpaste-tube grubs
Refugee insects
Flee the tectonic shift
Steel in the unfiltered sun
‘Tyranny laid to rest’
Crinkled thoughts and faded ink
Torture, exploits, parables, and crosswords,
Spasm in the hot air,
Demanding to be heard
A splintered raft at sea
We spray the demagogue and
Disengage.
Autumn’s diagonals cast
A taller truth on
Spurious tales
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Plastered on fetid clumps
Cover-ups covered up by
Broken leaves, crackling twigs, straw.
A rug for worms unfurled
The demagogue yellows in a shallow grave.
Will Hall lives in Melbourne. An actor and writer with theatre and screen performances, in 2022 he received an Oceanic Region Best Actor nomination in Amsterdam’s Septimius Awards for his lead role in the short film ‘Call Me Puritan’, which he also wrote. In 2023, he was involved in productions at Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and La Mama Explorations. A clip for Will’s film can be found here.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.