When I open my eyes Aleandro has left, his bed sheet folded. For a moment I’m in Santa Monica. The whirring fan, the garish pink walls seem vaguely familiar. Alcohol settles like a carpet of snow falling softly in my head. On the desk next to your Selected, there’s a note, saying “Thanks” with no … Continue reading
A Chinese Affair – Extract I dream of my mother again. She is sitting in front of the sewing machine, crying. I press on the wooden door and it opens quietly. My father tells me to come in. He is lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, where cobwebs dangle at the corners. He murmurs, … Continue reading
i want it to read: ‘don’t hurry’; be happy you’re not unhappy. we all kind of collided with something resembling loss, turning to stone sometimes as if somewhere else lovers right now could never be kissing throat to throat, or babies be squeezed out to play in all this. © Matt Hetherington Previously published in … Continue reading
when i leave i hope i will carry the spirits on my skin i will carry the earth in my legs the sky in my eyes when i leave i hope i will carry the birds in my feet the trees in my shoulders the people in my chest when i leave i … Continue reading
Matt Hetherington is a writer, music-maker, and moderate self-promoter living in Brisbane. He has been writing poetry for over 30 years, and has published 4 poetry collections and over 300 poems. His first all-haiku/senryu collection ‘For Instance’ was published in March 2015 by Mulla Mulla Press. He is also on the board of the Australian … Continue reading
In a kitchen in Brisbane three of us sit sharing tea and talking about dislocation how hard we find it to feel really here, to feel we belong. Each of us an unplanned baby. (An accident, or a surprise if you’re being nice.) Never felt that sense of unequivocal right-to-be, to take up space. … Continue reading
In the park at Richmond River the ibis converge on the scraps like clumsy ballerinas. One bites the tail of a water dragon who stares at me astonished, like perhaps we knew each other in a past life. Across the way a row of Queenslanders lift their skirts to avoid puddles and cars drive by, … Continue reading
