Published in Overland Issue 258 2025 · Uncategorized Emote Sarah Penwarden in the universe our planet is a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam (Carl Sagan) The sun is strange today, sky glows dull and light — dust particles — and I am full of others, carrying crowds. The memories of their talk leak from my skin, reminders of their flow, the bagpipe of their lungs empties, fills. We are here — our teeth jar with a similar ache; we are here on this pale blue dot containing all those who have ever lived. Circling round the sun, I ask that there may yet be a turn, a coming home to the common rising-falling of our breath. Sarah Penwarden Sarah Penwarden is a therapist based in Auckland. She has had poems published in Poetry New Zealand, Turbine, Meniscus, Southerly, Mayhem, and takahē. She has had stories published in tākāhe and Meniscus, and a story broadcast on Radio New Zealand. More by Sarah Penwarden › 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 28 April 202628 April 2026 · History Red Hunter: inspiration from history for an eco-socialist movement Tim Briedis There is an incredible history of worker radicalism in the Hunter Valley region. Workers and communists took on governments, police, banks and bosses, unionised whole industries from scratch, and formed militant Labour Defence Armies of hundreds. While these are not specifically environmentalist actions, there is much to take inspiration from in this history of defiance and rebellion. It is a story of class struggle, collective action and combativeness. 24 April 202624 April 2026 · Friday Poetry A slam dunk publication Michael Farrell Australians said, landed among manatees, did useful, / neatnesses, knitted, pleasingly. Spared liaisons, amassed, / mortal dangers, unforeseen, nor kids, prayed aloud.
