car doors click closed
midnight driving
whispers from the fig trees
by the river
quiet houses whistle with
gap toothed weatherboards
wine laps at the walls
of my stomach, you drive
all the spaghetti
slurped down, settled
what is this peace?
how did i find this?
mundanity hums in harm
-ony with the
rumble of tyres against
loose gravel
softness swells alongside
the crackling car speakers
i sit passenger side, thinking
of what i have to gain, not lose
for the first time, let the train squeal
along the tracks
ahead, a light flickers green
we head home together
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Dire Straits: The Future of Australian Literary Journals
Close the submissions. Batten down the hatches. The absence of funding has claimed another literary journal. In the Australian print world, journals have subsisted since Southerly came into existence in 1939. These journals have given pages to some of Australia’s most talented emerging writers, launching careers with a body of work which allowed their book to get picked up by publishers. There is no argument to be made to the significance of Australian literary journals, their immense contribution to Australian writers and writing is undeniable. They have weathered storms that mirror the struggles of their country, World War II, civil rights movements, flood, fire, the digital age and an ever-shifting change of taste from their readership. A strong canon of publications has followed Southerly, some offering poetry, short fiction, commentary, art or a combination of those forms (Peterson, 2019). They are the vessels of the best writing Australia has to offer, sailing through generations and hundreds of issues. However, what capsizes some of these print publications is money.
By Em Readman6 years ago in Journal
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