Published in Overland Issue 259: Feb/Mar 2026 · Poetry Consort song Fiona Hile The water a creature of vitrines, in contralto independence of the song each instrument intent on happiness, equanimical forestation of the Self Corporation Rights for the way your fingertips rise from the tarmac, always counting in the end from the beginning thinking better of finding the keeper of finding the cannon clout deafening, externally sojourning profestations of you in the hap hazard room of bevelled sidestep inoculated in the flooded fizz of underfoot eye walks, secrets of the budgie heart gather centrifugally and scatter as if from a chakral point the separation of sound and song effects a return of the song to itself rhythms of abnegation and despair confluent with inconvertible precision what music sounds like when its alone Fiona Hile Fiona Hile’s first collection, Novelties, was awarded the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry. Her second, Subtraction, won the Helen Anne Bell Poetry Award for an unpublished manuscript. More by Fiona Hile › 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 18 September 202618 September 2026 · Poetry having a sweetie Gareth Morgan o unfathomable lack! unbelievable luck … really, you wouldn’t believe me my pollen grows in the dark my pollen reeks like bed sheets/br 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.
