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                                                                                                                                    #7/thyla7k-ns AUSTRALIAN POETS SERIES 7 The Poetry of Nicolette Stasko Selected by Coral Hull [Above] Photo of Nicolette Stasko by by Virginia Wallace-Crabbe, year unknown. I Ashes I A Single Ascension I Death of Blue I The Tablecloth I 'Plaza en la Colonia del Sacramento' I Another narration/ No rainbow I Ashes All over the world poets are going up in flames leaving little piles of ashes in the shape of mountains it seems we do not notice their going so much else is ablaze but the darkness is growing and it is not our eyes who will be here to help us see? to be the mole of the wind reminding us of death's bright clothes pointing out where the stars used to be from under the glare of so many busy street lamps Published in Heat (Australia). A Single Ascension Valido per una sola corsa in ascensore L.300                                                 (biglietto-Città d'Urbino) There are windows onto every night some full of starlight moonlight   some empty if I throw open these shutters an ancient town below me sleeps terracotta rooftops glow like embers in the last rays of the sun the air is cold and clean across on the green hilltop an apple tree blossoms white and lovers embrace oblivious to their dying bells ring the hours and in my pocket a ticket for the single ascension to this place where Raphael walked on roads that float off into cloud   all streets meet beneath the ducal palace   terraces rooms full of grace and light of paintings where cathedral steps are an alabaster bed of chambered ammonites curled like ladies' ears all women are beautiful here with long Botticellian hair dark eyes here dark cypresses seam the sky   as if there had never been a rift between heaven and earth Published in Ulitarra (Australia). Death of Blue 1 Eyes open after four days of fevered sleep a crown of candles burns on the dresser twelve blue iris incandescent in the morning light seemed a sign of something a gift from the world unasked for unmortgaged now with wild abandoned wings they fly and settle like bright swallows around the room send a message I beg we are! we are! they sing 2 Where does one find a word for such a blue this iris-colour that exists in dreams where is the word for flesh of seraphim luminous as a child's eyes would melt between human fingers tissue of sky of star of this earth and not of this earth O white despair 3 Irises begin to darken the way eyes do in certain moods in certain light their yellow centres turn to tarnished gold they do not lose their petals as other flowers but curl back into themselves to the place before they were born withdrawing all the blue from the world Published in The Nightjar (Newcastle Prize Anthology, 1997). The Tablecloth I spread it anyway and the tear glares at me like an open mouth caught in a scream surprised… perhaps I had forgotten for a little while I cover it with a large flat basket of ripe figs so none of the guests will see only the dark puckered skins bursting in places to show the sweet flesh pink and oozing with sticky juice the colour of fresh bruises 'Plaza en la Colonia del Sacramento' after Jorge Damiana That white building gleaming in the moonlight making its complicated shadows across the plaza   a sky hung like black velvet curtain behind it or the grey dove quietly absorbing a small piece of the night why should I try to describe it or even understand rather    let it enter remain there forever or pass through me clean as a sharp blade going  somewhere else Another narration/ No rainbow A woman sat by the fountain weeping her tears flowed and mixed with the water and disappeared another woman walked over to the fountain weeping and her tears were lost in the water gushing and gurgling the women's tears flowed while they wove hats and baskets petted their children dreamed up dinners they would cook for their families the village dogs barked and ran wild in the streets and still their tears flowed and mixed with the water all the people were happy and grateful only the women knew their sadness and where their tears came from men and children imagined rainbows About the Poet Nicolette Stasko Nicolette Stasko has appeared at numerous poetry venues in Australia, the USA, China and London. She was the Associate/Fiction Editor of and reviewer for a literary journal, The Phoenix Review from 1986 to 1992. In 1993 she was interviewed about her work as a poet for a feature on SBS television's 'Vox Populi'. Nicolette Stasko has run writing workshops for the NSW Poets' Union (1994) and schools, as well as given many readings not listed above. In 1997 she taught part-time in the Creative Writing Department at Wollongong University. Her papers have been collected by the National Library (MS9406).    [Above] Photo of Nicolette Stasko by by Virginia Wallace-Crabbe, year unknown. I Next I Back I Exit I Thylazine No.7 (March, 2003)