Hail

As thunder rumbles
hailstones sluice
down
chutes of air
Seeds of ice
pelting the ground
hopping and skipping
lodging
in furrows of earth

Dusk

Against the fading light
the orb spider shuttles
stitching the horizon
to the evening star

The magpie family
one by one
play aerial vertigo
then fly to roost

Quietly, the sheep
head for higher ground
pulling choice morsels
as they go

The frog chorus tunes up
with background bug music
freely improvised

Small silent bats
flicker black
along the silver horizon
presaging midnight

Later
may come
the moon

After the Eclipse

Shaking off
the shadow of the earth
the moon rides to the zenith of the sky
and stares full face
into the sun

The bright light
silvers cirrus cloud
and summons magpies out of sleep
Not the lone singer
of minor monthly moons
but the full
bewildered chorus

Susan O’Brien lives half of the time off the grid overlooking the gorge of the Finniss River on the Fleurieu Peninsula, the other half in Adelaide’s CBD. Since semi-retirement from medical practice as a GP with a particular interest in mental health, she has started to capture her poems on the page, writing about what the natural world may present. A particular associated delight is South Australia’s produce, its wines, olives and other Mediterranean fruits. Her poems have appeared in Friendly Street anthologies and she has read them at Coriole Vineyard’s Poets & Pizza events, and on 101.5 FM Radio Adelaide’s Gastronaut Program.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.