Poems from Tango of the Widow
Books & Poetry
This week’s Poet’s Corner contributions are from Tarla Kramer in South Australia’s Ikara-Flinders Ranges.
Life Without E
I was young and had to go to Bolivia.
For its music and not its food. It was okay.
Found folks in Bolivia a bit shy.
Although it was good to not shoo guys away constantly.
But in six months I found my man,
who was a muso.
And not a bad husband. Hubby and I had four kids.
In 2008 my husband got a brain tumour
and that was that.
Magical Thinking
A new Andean music CD
almost carries me back to Bolivia
where I met Edi.
There’s a part of my brain
that thinks I’ll find him again
if I go now.
I’m almost gone myself
and feel like I haven’t been here.
Not in Quorn.
With the kids, yes
but barely here apart from that.
I put the CD away.
A Dream
I drive on a rough road
into the desert
a new tyre bursts
and a blue steam train comes past
then I find an orchard
of young citrus trees
and each sapling
has two huge fruits.
Tarla Kramer grew up in Adelaide and lives in the Flinders Ranges, which is also known by its Adnyamathanha name of Ikara, meaning meeting place. Since graduating from Tabor College’s Creative Writing Program in 2019, she has had poetry published in the Australian journals Cordite, Borderlands and Inscribe, and previously in Poet’s Corner. Her manuscript ‘Odds & Sods’ was one of the three winning collections published in Friendly Street’s New Poets 21 in 2020, while her chapbook collection ‘Poems for the Non-compliant’, was published by Ginninderra Press in 2022. Today’s poems are from her first full-length book, ‘Tango of the Widow’, from Ginninderra, which was launched at Tabor College in March this year. More about Tarla and her book can be found here.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au.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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