I Home I About I Contact I Guidelines I Directory I World I Peace I Charity I Education I Quotes I Solutions I Photo Gallery I Archives I Links I

Thylazine: The Australian Journal of Arts, Ethics & Literature                                                                                                                                  #10/thyla10k-rl AUSTRALIAN POETS SERIES 10 The Poetry of Rosanna Licari Selected by Coral Hull [Above] Photo of Rosanna Licari by Jools Weller, 2002. I Sea Lover I the birdman I emergency ward I Frida to Diego, 1934 I Autumn I contemplating burrum heads I Sea Lover The wave rises, a strip of light slashes the wall horizontally, it curls, the lip offering white beads that form a veil. He takes it, boarding the blue water that foams behind him fast as a dancer’s white petticoats, and the kelp unfurls in dark spongy lungs. He memorises the interfemoral breeze as he rolls                 in the soft                                   whitewash. Published in Scope (Australia). the birdman                he searches canyons for voices                              inhaling landscape and making smoke rings into clouds                he holds to his chest                                                       a dark bird                              that weaves a nest threading through his ribs                twigs and  bark                he sways to the drone the peal of her song so close to veins                              stuttering with blood birdman wants to fly                                                       he jumps a stone’s throw on rocky plains                he catches sunsets in nets of regret and at his side he keeps another favourite                              in a cell of glass her song unfettered clear as a moon                his bones heave wordless                              desires to the caged voice                              that seeks a sky but he places a hand on                              weary meshwork and strokes the dark bird                then birdman clips                              his feathers to the droning                              under the whispers of parched trees. Published in Retort Magazine (Australia). emergency ward tubes tubes plastic tubes the beeping machine people in white                                           ghosts? we have to stop the bleeding                                           i put out my hand people in white a pulse   a pulse   there’s a pulse i want to stop the beeping                                           the beeping red light tubes tubes plastic tubes they come from me then tubes become tentacles                                           tentacles that float through a dark sea                                                                       tentacles wrap around rocks we want to stop the bleeding i’m a spasm and around and round  we go through veins pulsing blood i need to stop the beeping a fist   i’m struck and i fall and                                           i’m flushed   flushed down                                           toilet wall is smeared with shit, graffiti i have to stop the bleeding flushed to a circle of light falling i have to stop the falling i’m flushed to a circle of light and a voice i have to stop there’s a voice i have to stop there’s a voice i have to stop. Published in Social Alternatives (Australia). Frida to Diego, 1934 from Chronicles of Desire: Fragments capitalism capitalism the gringos come south of the border for tequila and sun oh the weather, the weather and of course the chicas -- this is our war Diego you can’t resist the smell of food or the scent of a naked woman -- she       the salty fruit of hot sands i look away (well    I try) a skeleton rattles above my bed my dead have taken the ghost of our child over the dark river to the desert of cacti but painting sheets in blood is my art i dip brush into fluid sticky with spent life you betray she betrays and my body betrays me i can barely talk or walk the surgeon has trimmed the ends of my foot i’m thinking Diego i have nothing to lose the eyeless skull speaks to me i lick my wounds while you lick her toes why? why did you have to do my sister? and the gringos have come south of the border for tequila and sun oh the weather, the weather and of course the chicas the ancestors tear the heart from my body. Published in Stylus Poetry Journal (Australia). Autumn (from Chronicles of Desire: Fragments) The Emperor chooses by touch. The shoulder. Silently. No one knows Until a concubine is missing Then jealously licks The ankles of the less favoured. As I walk to his chamber I wonder how he picks. Is a smile, softer? Eyes brighter? Or does he look at the leaves and thinks: “If that one falls, it will be her. Published in Stylus Poetry Journal (Australia). contemplating burrum heads in the distance figures walk along sand looking for bait across a backdrop of water glistening fish scales the deep-seated silence reflects parrot calls and neighbourly gossip: this expanse offers all secrets the wet desert shifts, forms, re-forms masses of soldier crabs, i step through these migrations a giant among blue-cream expanding and contracting: marbles rolled and shaped by an invisible hand i pick up empty pipi shells and play them as percussion, small pockets of water have trapped tiny fish that dart like thoughts and a line of rods at the water’s edge practise patience and yield to wind. Published in M.a.g. (USA). About the Poet Rosanna Licari Rosanna Licari is a Queensland poet and editor of Stylus Poetry Journal. Her interests include haiku and its related forms, as well as page and performance poetry. Her haiku has been published in The First Australian Haiku Anthology (2003), and she recently collaborated with Queensland arranger/composer, Kenny Floyd to produce Chronicles of Desire: Fragments [Singapore Mix] a poetry and music CD based on the voices of women of myth and history including Frida Kahlo, the Emperor’s Concubine, Sappho of Lesbos and Medusa, exploring the themes of love and desire. In 2004 she performed at the Singapore Arts Festival, the Brisbane Writers Festival and the Queensland Poetry Festival.    [Above] Photo of Rosanna Licari by Jools Weller, 2002. I Next I Back I Exit I Thylazine No.10 (September, 2004)