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AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS & WRITERS FOR PEACE
Japanese Garden by Tony Smith

[Above] Photo of Tony Smith by photographer unknown, year unknown.

Tony Smith


Japanese Garden

between ghostly gums
over stone spring waters fall
to a pond of carp
fresh enough to come
from melting yama snowflakes
it sings of morning
while happy snappers capture
the golden frenzy
near the crumbs they toss

the soil's soul is iron
blood enriched by sacrifice
of boys past ageing
for once war twisted
trunks and limbs leaves and flowers
to wreaths for lost lives

but now peace prevails
sak-ur-a and eu-ca-lypt
grow in harmony
as buddhist bells call
across the ancient landscape
and bees mix blossoms
pink and red and white
the old and exotic
camellia by the tea house
where charred billy thrives
and wattle and azalea
flourish side by side

About the Poet Tony Smith

Tony Smith teaches politics at the University of Sydney and lives in Wiradjuri country outside Bathurst in New South Wales. He has had non-fiction articles and reviews published in various journals and newspapers including Australian Quarterly, the Australian, Australian Book Review and the Australian Financial Review. He has made radio broadcasts on community radio stations and the ABC (Ockhams Razor, Lingua Franca, Australia Talks Back). His short stories have appeared in Heartland, Blast, FreeXpression, Portfolio, This Life and Stories from the Shed (edited by Mark Thomson). His poems have appeared in Studio, National Outlook, Spindrift, the Poetry Picnic Book, Green Left Weekly and Law/Text/Culture. He was a member of "Writers Against Nuclear Arms" during the 1980s and was a foundation member of the Australian Chapter of the "World Peace Bell Association" based in Cowra.
   [Above] Photo of Tony Smith by photographer unknown, year unknown.

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