Competition

Highly Commended

Fallen
by Amber Hilton
St. Joseph’s Primary School, North Ipswich, Qld

Heed my call
listen to my pleas of desperation.
Feel the silence,
search for the weeping woman.
Smell death around you.
She has fallen,
with no explanation, no reason.
Her mother's dead.
Her father's left.
No sisters, no brothers.
She seeks a friend.
Rejected and alone.
She begins to cry
As tears flow by.
She has nothing left.
Day turns to night
She sits alone.
Waiting for something,
That never comes.

Highly Commended

The Divorce
by Sam Maclean
Aspley, Qld

Hitting, yelling, cursing, now Mum's out the door,
Dad grabs her by the arm, and screams at her some more.

Cowering behind the kitchen door, willing it to end,
Was it something that I’d done to them? I didn’t mean to offend.

Mum has gone for good now, Dad punches through the wall,
Is this what our family's come to? I'd thought we had it all.

2 years later, we're still in court, I didn't predict this, not back then,
The only thing I'm sure of, we'll never be a family again.

And now I have to choose, which will it be, mum, or dad?
Either way I go, the decision is just as bad.

I wish that none of this had happened; it's not fair, not now, not ever
The only thing I wanted was to have a family together.

I'm 27, and looking back, a huge 20 years ago,
I wonder if with a proper family, I would have continued to grow.

Instead there's hitting, yelling, cursing, now I'm out the door.
My husband grabs me on the arm, and screams at me some more…..

Highly Commended

The Bush
by Sarah Josey
Ipswich Girl’s Grammar School, Ipswich, Qld

I walk past the Swagman and his Damper,
he’s a true blue Aussie camper.

He sips his billy tea,
waves, and shouts G’day to me.

The koalas, platypus and roos,
and good old rabbit stew.

The bellbirds in the trees,
sing their songs for me.

The leaves under my feet say “crunch”,
as I eat my vegemite lunch.

Magpies above me swoop,
then fly loop-the-loop.

Kookaburras laugh and lorikeets chatter,
I wonder what is the matter.

Australia is my home,
wherever I may roam,

Past the billabongs,
for them I sing my happy songs.

For Australia’s bush and track
will keep me coming back.