Published in Overland Issue Print Issue 199 Winter 2010 · Writing / Main Posts Resurrection Plants at Nookaminnie Rock John Kinsella They’re full-blown in their early spring rush – pin cushions a fakir’s bed of nails so soft to tread on, so easy to make false comparisons by, and all the baggage that carries – rest-break on a granite slab looking out over the island sea of scrub shaded with formations beneath a green lagoon’s surface. It’s what we bring to the apogee before the drying-off, dead crunch beneath our feet as rock- dragons wake to the heat, and emphatic belief that the dead will stay dead and there will be no lift, no rebirth, wherever you come from, whatever you believe. Step carefully around these wreaths hooked into granite sheen, holdalls for a soil-less ecology, a carpet you know would say so much more if your boots were off and skin touched life brought back, restored, gifted, bristling with death because death is the most alive district to inhabit. We could say so much more if only we had the time. John Kinsella John Kinsella’s new work includes the story collection Pushing Back (Transit Lounge, 2021), Saussure's Kaleidoscope Graphology Drawing-Poems (Five Islands Press/Apothecary Archive, 2021) and The Ascension of Sheep: Collected Poems Volume 1 (UWAP, 2022). More by John Kinsella › 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 First published in Overland Issue 228 8 September 202315 September 2023 · Main Posts Announcing the 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize ($6500) Editorial Team Supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, and named after the late Neilma Gantner, this prize seeks excellent short fiction of up to 3000 words themed around the notion of ‘travel’; imaginative, creative and literary interpretations are strongly encouraged. This competition is open to all writers, nationally and internationally, at any stage of their writing career. First published in Overland Issue 228 8 September 202326 September 2023 · Main Posts Announcing the 2023 Judith Wright Poetry Prize ($9000) Editorial Team Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets seeks poetry by writers who have published no more than one collection of poems under their own name (that is writers who’ve had zero collections published, or one solo collection published). It remains one of the richest prizes for emerging poets, and is open to poets anywhere in the world. In 2023, the major prize is $6000, with a second prize of $2000 and a third prize of $1000. All three winners will be published in Overland.
