Hannah James
Something blinks its eyes at me
Something stirs awake in me
at 5am.
Small drops of rain patter the roof
dance in shrubs.
Purple ambience crowds the trees.
Thin veils of clouds disperse east.
Freshness carries through the window
and silver pools on the dark cement.
Rubbish bins face each other
like threatening statues, guarding
houses that frown at me.
Tender Earth, raw and sleepy.
I may appear to be the only one awake
but there is something more awake than I.
It doesn’t know I’m listening, observing.
It is my cradle, yet it doesn’t recognise my birth.
Not privy to my existence or my fate
when I one day disappear or disintegrate.
The flames will inevitably turn to ashes.
These man-made words
on paper made from the Earth’s
limbs held out surrendering.
I may never know my last sunrise when I see it.
Figures drive cars passing down greasy lines
mischievously or triumphantly into the unknown.
Perhaps in escapade
or off to work.
Birds are calling.
There it is again, batting its weary eyes.
It sighs, rustling the dripping trees.
Peach ombre. Mango sorbet.
Coral explosions. A bleeding sky
blowing winds and watering gardens.
Tending sweetly to a dying child.
Like any muse, it will never know
it conjures pen to paper day to day
or that the sleepless search
for something palpable to grasp in its nature.
(It is more sweet than sad, I think)
Oblivious as much as anything is.
As much as life itself.
Author: Hannah is a Creative Writing and Law student at QUT. She enjoys unravelling the human experience in all its wonderful and frustrating complexity through fiction and poetry.
Artist: Steph Blinco is a third year Bachelor of Fine Arts student. A local Brisbane emerging artist, her practice makes statements about everyday life through collaged imagery. Intertwining psychedelic patterns to create collisions of colour and era, Steph draws influences from autobiographical contexts, ranging from her childhood to her experiences now as a young adult. You can find her on Instagram @stephblincoart.