In their latest issue, Fluid, Voiceworks magazine has kindly included two of my poems: The Waiting and A Letter to the Romans Sealed with Beeswax (surely my longest ever title – it’s my very own call-to-arms poem, dedicated to my namesake, Palmyra’s warrior queen). Not only that, there’ s an interview with me (and a number of other fine young writers) about the writing process. So grab Voiceworks for a bit of a Zen-fix, and lots of great writings and artworks by Australia’s under-25s. The cool ones who aren’t nuisances on public transport. Or so I like to think.

Anyhoo, a poem to tempt your tastebuds:

The Waiting

My limbs are made of moths
that flutter under skin.
The storm quivers across the bay.

I have been at home
all day in your dressing gown.

I told work the truth for once; I said,
My limbs are made of moths.
My head is trying to fly off
and I’m just getting lighter and lighter.

The ocean is the colour of the sky
is the colour of the ocean. In this blue gown
no one would notice if I slipped out.
I stroke the window’s fading frame,
tracing the timber’s severed years. The sky darkens

and I move the candle to the sill.
I watch like I’m waiting for a fisherman
to come home. I wait like I’m watching
for a chance to open the window.