Published in Overland Issue 218 Autumn 2015 · Uncategorized Be were: third place, Judith Wright Poetry Prize Kia Groom tonight the pigment will rise through your skin, form in fawn formations deer: your stockinged shanks hang now from half- open window & you slough off loose shoe it was a slow summer but now i crown you in the backseat: destructive diadem nestled in the thorns of your hair, stuck in a swollen wound that seeps a stream of blood i take it, what i’m owed, & crickets kiss your split lips with their sound: oh, whittled girlhood oh, crust of mud that shapes a foot to hoof. the sun sets on your thighs. you stumble out & eyes abandon pigment: sclera floods dark oil & in the road deer: you break open your insides burst with fur i want to plunge my hand inside again & taste beast coronation it was a slow summer but now i pick fine hairs from between teeth & watch you frail shake on roadside gore & glisten of damp girl & dearest that’s the thing, with men we always forget, when hunting for blood, first: flesh. Kia Groom Kia Groom grew up in Perth and is slated to graduate from the University of New Orleans in May, with an MFA in poetry. She is founding editor of Quaint Magazine, dedicated to subversive work from female-identified and non-binary writers. Her work has appeared in Going Down Swinging, Westerly and Cordite. She is online at www.kiagroom.com, and tweets at @whodreamedit. More by Kia Groom › 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 27 February 202527 February 2025 · ecology Keeping it in the ground: pasts, presents and futures of Australian uranium Nicholas Herriot Uranium has come a long way from the “modern Midas mineral” of the 1950s. However, in an increasingly dangerous, militaristic and volatile world, it remains a lucrative and potentially lethal metal. And it is so important precisely because of its contested past and possible futures. 25 February 202525 February 2025 · the arts Pattern recognition: censorship, control and interference in Australia’s art ecology David Pledger My final thoughts go to the artist and curator who have borne the brunt of this injury. Selection for the Venice Biennale is a significant event for an Australian artist and curator. To be treated so shabbily must cause pain to both. One can only hope the outcry of fellow artists, the solidarity shown by many, and the strong stance of their shortlisted colleagues, provides some succour.
