Published in Overland Issue Poetry in Lockdown · Poetry kulani Eunice Andrada first water of morning the translation into English dries my grandmother’s mouth spoiled water she spits on the pads of her fingers dabs them on the crook of my neck stale water drawn before using the mouth for words, give water healing water undiscovered first communion of salt accumulated water the body hoards more than it needs pincushion islands rise rotten water the river where my tongues swim in sleep Read the rest of Poetry in Lockdown, edited by Toby Fitch and Melody Paloma If you enjoyed this special edition, subscribe and receive a year’s worth of print issues, the online magazine, special editions and discounted entry to our literary competitions Eunice Andrada Eunice Andrada is a Filipina poet and educator living on unceded Gadigal Land. Her debut poetry collection Flood Damages (2018) won the Anne Elder Award and was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Poetry and the Dame Mary Gilmore Award. She is the recipient of the John Marsden-Hachette Australia Prize (2014) and the Australian Poetry & NAHR Eco-Poetry Fellowship (2018). Her poetry is currently featured in the Museum of Sydney's exhibition A Thousand Words. More by Eunice Andrada › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 5 November 2025 · Poetry Force posture agreement Miroslav Sandev The men of Darwin have all taken their rottweilers / out for a walk at the same time. / For our protection. Like Pine Gap: / all those big white eyes that scan / the darkening horizon. / The eyes stay woke, so that we may sleep. / Or so they say. 1 22 August 202522 August 2025 · Poetry starmight K.A Ren Wyld Ending genocide and apartheid is the story. Palestinian liberation is the story. / Aboriginal rights is the story. Truth, justice, treaties and land back is the story. / Global Indigenous peoples’ solidarity and joy is the story. Kinship is the story.
