CATH VIDLER

 

Eleven lines from Nowhere

 
The void was a unit of darkness, our bodies an instant, a clap. 
  
By and by the water shook, no, trembled, on the verge of tears. 
  
The leaves had no destination. 
  
My face doesn’t tell the time, but everything was cornered, like a lawn. 
  
To the left, a deliberate flaw, to the right, a bent flower, 
  
I’ve found what I was looking for. 
  
Tree-diagrams helped explain the forest: 
  
Her eyes, longing over the couch, 
  
And her hands. Their beautiful dexterity didn’t tell the time. 
  
She left trailing the scent of mimosa, mimos . . . 
  
Summer’s salt-laden mist was turning to tears as we spoke. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cath Vidler edits Snorkel, an online literary magazine specialising in creative writing by Australians and New Zealanders. In 2001 she was a member of the editorial collective for the inaugural issue of Turbine. Cath’s poems have also appeared in Sport, and the online journals Nthposition, Otoliths, Trout, Cordite and Alba.

 

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