Competition

Highly Commended

In sa ni t y
by Kirsty McCormack
Redbank Plains, Qld

how faithfully i have followed you
a myrmidon of your shadow
how i gasped in your every breath
as though it were my own
as though it were my life line
and it was
i made it so
          how i swallowed your every murmur
          choking on your words
            i suffocated myself to eat them
           strangling on the syllables
            i so desperately craved
                      how i wrapped my body in your vines
                       thorns piercing as i twisted tighter
                        and tighter
                       and tighter
                       i reveled in every trickling crimson pearl
                      spilt in your name
                      oh glory to your name
                     to your name in my vain
             how i bathed myself in the blood
              as your knife carved into my flesh
             letting it wash away my sins
              my blood spilt by your hand
              imbuing me, absolution received
              the piercing of my flesh by your holiness
                making impure blood holy
how i enslaved myself so willingly
   in your shackles of darkness
your straight-jacket of black
i so readily wore
my constraint limbs twisted unnaturally
  oh the pride of pain
oh the love of you
           how i so carefully threaded and weaved
             round and round, in and out
           with such perfection
          and with such precision
            i fastened your length of rope
                 just so high, just right, perfect
                         and how i so fearlessly raised it
                              over my head, onto my neck
                           wrapped, ensnared, trapped
                          in your noose of darkness
                       oh with such faithfulness i abided
                         your name so holy,
                     oh darkness, oh darkness
                    i am yours
                              how i so obligingly followed you,
                                    took my final step in your name
                               and down
                                      and down
                                             and down
                                                      how willingly, unerringly, faithfully i died for you.

Highly Commended

Untitled
by Alyce Barker
St Mary’s College, Ipswich, Qld

Beeping monitors and silver machines breathe for him
His life is on hold
Tubes fill his veins with medicine
But no amount will help
He is wrinkled and pale, wrinkled and frail
The jagged line of his heart suddenly flows straight
As the illness he has been running from
Family wins the race
And he drifts away

Highly Commended

Wild Time
by Teri Milburn
Eastern Heights, Qld

Rouge shadows play with time,
Tiptoeing through hours, plucking thorns,
Gardens of seconds grow wild,
Untamed like the sun,
Feeding on minutes, absorbing years.

Dusk awakens the roaming dreams of centuries,
Rumble of darkness,
Calling for dances between raindrops,
Clouds overhead sway seconds slower,
Shadows invisible against colourless ground.

Only wisps of colour gas swirl,
Shining on shadow faces,
Blown in from yesterday,
Always coming for the present,
With tales of the past,
On a never ending search for the future.

Highly Commended

Femme Fatale
by Olivia Whitt
Worongary, Qld

It starts, a tiny red spark glowing in the night,
Then it grows, gains power, strength,
Illuminating the ebony sky.

Demonic flames reach out licking the dry grass,
Ruby fingers stretch upwards into the highest branches of trees,
A crimson beast devouring all living things.

The acidic stench of scorched eucalypts sets the scene.
Sweeping and dancing across the plain,
Its wicked blaze enveloping forests, homes, lives...

Now take a step back and look, see its true beauty.
A sea of scarlet and amber swirls and lifts,
Gently rising and falling in majestic waves.

Leaping like a spirited dancer, agile as a deer,
Flowing like a mighty river, lively and powerful,
Its surging lures like a lullaby, soothing and pure.

Like a siren's hymn- it's mesmerising,
Encapturing you amongst her flickers of life,
The sorceress weaves her fiery spell.

Behold this beguiling apparition,
A hot, blood red power, this sublime radiance,
-She's dangerous, yet beautiful.