Progressive culture since 1954
The Nakata Brophy Short Fiction and Poetry Prize recognises the talent of young Indigenous writers across Australia. Sponsored by the University of Melbourne’s Trinity College, the prize alternates each year between fiction and poetry; this year’s prize is for the best poem (up to 88 lines) by an Indigenous writer under 30.
Artwork for this edition by guest artist Charlotte Allingham.
Let fault flaw
Let the fence fall
Let’s flabbergast the goal with tongues
Let debacle warp in dawn
Woke up stockinged blindfolded disarranged over Ashgabat –
2 ½ romances surely about lands us at the crawling border –
Dulled unfaithful apples threatening the plague as you pay –
There were spectacular grounds for mistaking it for home –
Sifting through shells I think of you—
Green striped flange truncated at the stalk,
singed partner variously allocated,
the dusky hearing aid of secular distance enforced.