Poems: Not a Royal nor Grand Victory & Lopsided
Books & Poetry
For this week’s Poet’s Corner, contributor Sara Abend-Sims finds inspiration on the streets of Adelaide.
Not a Royal nor Grand Victory
‘The Girl on a Slide’ by John Dowie, Rundle Mall
She is joy frozen in time
exuberant, bewitching
in my photo, her left foot is enormous
kicking at phantoms
it’s the perspective, though
nothing to do with what’s real
and what’s real is a slight sprightly kid
cast into bronze, sliding down a slope
arms and legs outstretched
plaits mirroring limbs, blown in the air
she’s enchantment caught in mid-slide
in busy Rundle Mall
amid the rushing of shoppers
she makes me look up to the sky
a blue ribbon
a pause among concrete giants.
Lopsided
Grote Street, nearby the Central Market
An elongated box
stands on one of its corners
a time machine a spacecraft
to admire
to hop into
to hope for a different time
what happened to the phone box?
she asked
it’s built for lopsided conversations
I replied
words to cross time and space
with sharp corners buried in the earth
making for an unstable base
like hatred that can no longer bite
for the benefit of all
and the planet
a dream, a possibility
an out of space whisper within glass panes
in this contemporary TARDIS
and the doctor –
will she come
will she save this earth yet again?
Sara Abend-Sims was born in Poland, grew up in Israel and lives in Adelaide. A long-standing member of Friendly Street Poets, she is also the recipient of two community first-prize literary awards, and her poetry collection, ‘Paper Storms Paper Whispers’, was published in 2019. Her work has appeared in ‘Pure Slush’, ‘Life Span’, Kensington and Norwood Writers’ Journal, and the Friendly Street and ‘One Surviving Story’ anthologies. Online she has also appeared in ‘Haibun Today’, ‘Leaves of Ink’ and previously in Poet’s Corner.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.
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