Grace

Forehead
stomach
right shoulder
heart,
my father’s hand
makes the cross.

North
South
East
West,

sketched in air
with his right hand,
not the left,
left is the devil’s fortress.
Women sit on the left
in his church.

Handmade talisman,
in the four directions,
for protection.
One for food today,
two for food yesterday,
three for famine remembered
four for emptiness to come.

Maria Vouis lives in Adelaide. A winner of the Friendly Street Poets 2018 New Poets 19 manuscript prize and its 2021 Satura Prize, she was also shortlisted in 2020 for the Newcastle Poetry Prize. Her poems have been published variously in Australian journals, newspapers and anthologies, and as a child migrant of Greek heritage, she has felt growing up to the duality of language to have been a strong voice behind her writing. A registered teacher, with Flinders University and TAFE degree and diploma qualifications, she has taught life writing, poetry, English and literacy, at both school and adult level, working among minorities and the broader community.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected].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.