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Excerpt from “Floating Nest” © Cynthia Rowe, 2014

Pennyweight Flat

The haiku in ‘Floating Nest’ invite you to share with the poet the diversity and richness of life in the world around us. Images that resonate, such as:

Pagoda Rail: a sequence

ginko ...
cameras whirring
in the wind

garden pond
the spring storm swirls
these lily pads

unconcerned
the female mallard
follows her mate

green water
a koi parts
the reeds

widening ripples
poets compare
flower names

pagoda rail
looking for inspiration
at the sky

swaying cherry –
a gum leaf clings
to the rock face

scudding clouds
ochre-smudged buses
exit the car park

Resting Place

You travelled ten thousand miles across rough seas and here you remain, bound by alien soil. You helped those less fortunate, held benefits for diggers whose tents burned down. The townspeople tell stories, lead me to maps and schemes scrawled in a fine hand on yellowed parchment. Under bleached skies I hear the eucalypts rustle in the autumn wind.

wallaby grass...
beside grandfather’s grave
pulling weeds



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