First place: alkaway


a punchline flies business class
towards vague archipelagos
   in the deepening Pacific
I find glassy petrol spots the size of 5-cent pieces
refracting intervals of the day

thrushy embers in mornings overturn
      woken by shapeless violence
your body returned
   from sleep’s legal trip

quilling into the afternoon
discovering ‘the therapeutic power of water’
   while wasp-shaped helicopters
   spotlight the oval – but when?

(in violet enamel
when bees were discovered)

after filtering the whole house
cohabited refuse goes archaeological
turncoat, Georgic pink
      bread bag (garment)
      elastic calendar as in
      day-shaped moments between yawns
time-check:
pearling three o’clock clicks to
night without dusk
   floating floor
   live improv set in the big suburb

   replica village reality effect
the bodice sits over the body
know this well already, cf. ‘it mimics nature to filter’
old-sponge chunks of wattle
   slumping on your cheek
gathering a full body testimonial

 

new MRF logo-2015The Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize is supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation

Ella OKeefe

Ella O’keefe is a poet and researcher who lives in Melbourne. Her poems have appeared in Cordite Poetry Review, Text Journal, Steamer and Best Australian Poems. Her chapbook Rhinestone was published by Stale Objects dePress in 2015. She has made radio pieces for national and community broadcasters and is Audio Producer for Cordite Poetry Review.

More by Ella OKeefe ›

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