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Thylazine: The Australian Journal of Arts, Ethics & Literature                                                                                                                                #10/thyla10l-kk AUSTRALIAN POETS SERIES 10 The Poetry of Karen Knight Selected by Coral Hull [Above] Photo of Karen Knight courtesy of The Mercury Newspaper, 2001. I Fighting the Currents I Love on the Rocks I Tasmanian Cave-Dwelling Spider I Tomcats I Flowers I Some call them crows I My Gift to Birds I Fighting the Currents Trees have bones, you said and the air changed. Mosquitoes shifted from the space between my hands, soldier ants spread out from the shadow of my foot. Tree bones, you said and I held my breath. Published in Tarkine (Allen & Unwin, 2004). Love on the Rocks In the waters of Ulladulla a giant cuttlefish amongst the algae-covered boulders pulses mood colours flirts with my blue wetsuit its intelligent eyes roll when I wave a bunch of sea tulips at its tangle of arms growing out from its face that just wants to be patted like an old family dog Tasmanian Cave-Dwelling Spider (Hickmania troglodyte) Dense forest and an inept guide prevented Charles Darwin from exploring this mountain the shattered organ pipes the Lost World Cave kept him from whisking you out of your web and into one of his specimen jars. Your silken antidote could entice scientists from as far as Alabama to study your spinning patterns after the benzedrine kicks in. You are a feature on a New Scientist postcard sharing caffeine and marijuana with other rare species programmed Spiders on Drugs. This cave, this cool pantry stores the daily wind-blown crickets you catch with legs as long as tortured willow twigs. So you guard the entrance to this dark zone with a body as small as an olive pip but with enough venom to carry your genes into another century. Published by Coastlines (Australia). Tomcats In this pastoral setting pet cemeteries of compost haunt us as we cultivate under full moons. The soil is sweet. During visiting hours we plant potatoes they propagate with Fluff Tiger and Ginger with all the Toms who have passed on. There is plenty of space for blood and bone for sweet potatoes for propagation for closeness and it's all inside us we eat. In this rustic scene there lies an epitaph. We eat. We are close to them. They are inside us. Flowers I'd like to spend my life guarding flowers in places where artists having abandoned their still lives paint the buttery light all over their canvases where dozens of Courageous rosebuds pose stems in the earth petals flushed anticipating full bloom miles from any florist. Some call them crows I've never seen a forest raven dead on the road before I thought they knew all the rules dicing with death to get the last stab of freshly mashed potoroo The bird has its eyes open wings neatly folded at the sides It looks like a sleek umbrella grey claws gripping the agony of rain Published by Linq (Australia). My Gift to Birds My hair I leave to the wood pigeon for nesting My eyes to the bower bird with a yearning for blue My arms and legs to the baby sparrow, fallen to the ground My hands to the excitable parrot to unlock the cage I leave my heart to the murder of crows killing time on this long stretch of road *murder of crows - a collective noun for a flock of crows Published in Singing in the Grain (Walleah Press, 2001). About the Poet Karen Knight Karen Knight's poetry continues to be published in Australian anthologies, newspapers and literary journals, including Blue Dog, Verandah, Sidewalk, Linq and Mattoid. She has also been published widely in UK and USA. With Sue Moss, Karen is the Co-Editor of Interior Despots - Running the Border, an anthology of women poets released by Pardalote Press in 2001. Her collections include Singing in the Grain (Walleah Press, 2001) and My Mother Has Become (Picaro Press, 2003). Karen has received two writer's development grants from Arts Tasmania to complete collections of poems, the most recent being Under the One Granite Roof - Poems for Walt Whitman (Pardalote Press, 2004) which relates to Whitman's voluntary service as a wound dresser and morale booster in the Washington hospitals during the American Civil War. Her work has been read on Poetica, 5UV Writer's Radio and Triple J. Karen is married to a percussionist and has a daughter and a menagerie of rescued animals. She retains a day job with the Australian Red Cross.    [Above] Photo of Karen Knight courtesy of The Mercury Newspaper, 2001. I Next I Back I Exit I Thylazine No.10 (September, 2004)