is a poet born in Iran. Her first collection of poetry, That Sight, won the 2019 Mary Gilmore Award. And to Ecstasy was shortlisted for the 2023 Kenneth Slessor Poetry Award.
I thought at first she might be drowning
she seemed to be floundering so,
but when I swam near she was speaking
and signalling with her hands,
so then, instead of drowning I thought
she was speaking on some kind of waterproof phone,
We arrive home to ten or so thornbills
under the verandah working the front step,
picking between holes in the rubber mat.
I am the half-life of their lives added
together at their maximum extent,
and the CT scan dyes my history.
Not Sydney’s harbour lights
where we dine at the Opera House
in Bennelong
who was a bridge, looking onto a bridge.
A young couple is engaged
taking the customary photo
of another sparkler, a woman’s hand
placed on the chest of a man.
