By Anne Casey
She has never learned
not to look
a wild beast in the eye,
that she can’t fly:
much-bitten, hypernaturally
attracted to light.
She dances to the song
of the ocean breeze,
takes counsel from clouds,
whispers with trees,
feasts on lorikeet
shrieks, never sleeps.
I see her through a midnight
skylight—bewitching
the moon, a galaxy
at her feet: though I love her,
her attentions are deep
and brief.
I eat paper, avoid naked
flames, unspool on the
bathroom floor,
claw glass
walls, rake
concrete dreams.
I run
with clocks,
dance to the
cloaked
puppeteer’s jerks:
tick-tock, tick-tock.
She was never yours,
only part mine:
no man’s,
my island—
I
might be her downfall.
First published in 'Portrait of a Woman Walking Home' (Australia: Recent Work Press, 2021.)
The Importance of Arts, Culture & The Creative Process
As a poet, writer and creative practice researcher, I greatly value your support of the arts and humanities. I believe art and artistic endeavour helps us to make sense of the world around us, to more deeply understand human experience. In a world so saturated with surface-level, ephemeral information and disinformation, the role of artistic expression in capturing, conveying and preserving the depth of human experience is ever more crucial.
What was the inspiration for your creative work?
This particular poem is a playful tribute to my evanescent muse - that mysterious source of the spark of creativity.
Tell us something about the natural world that you love and don’t wish to lose. What are your thoughts on the kind of world we are leaving for the next generation?
As a former environmental journalist, I worry greatly about the world we are leaving behind for future generations. As a poet, I write a lot of ecopoetry, seeking to capture the beauty of the natural world and of endangered species in the environment where I live.
