Twist and Knot

By Ursula Nixon

Over several decades, Ursula Nixon has written poetry to share with friends and fellow poets. She has performed at poetry festivals and gatherings on the Monaro and on the NSW South Coast and more recently has been challenged by poetry slams, writing in limited time to themes suggested by the audience. The poems in Twist and Knot r

• Language: English
• Publisher: Debbie Lee
• Release date: Feb 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781761090653

Book preview

Twist and Knot

Twist and Knot

Ursula Nixon

Ginninderra Press

Twist and Knot

ISBN 978 1 76109 065 3

Copyright © Ursula Nixon 2021

Cover photo: Rowan Heuvel on Unsplash

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All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be sent to the publisher at the address below.

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First published 2021 by

Ginninderra Press

PO Box 3461 Port Adelaide 5015

www.ginninderrapress.com.au

Contents

Twist and Knot

Twist and Knot

Graveyard

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Each headstone is a grief.

Here lies a father, caught

while felling trees.

Here, a girl whose joy was dancing –

whirling in the waltz, neat-footed in the quickstep.

It seemed the old time Saturdays would never end

until she partnered death.

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And here, most piteous,

the little children,

planted deep in earth,

who failed to grow. This one

never saw the sun’s great light.

This boy, ‘a treasured child’,

faltered through three months only

till he died.

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High on a hill they lie.

Beyond the fence kangaroos

crop the paddocks. Magpie song

bubbles through the frozen air.

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Out of the south the wind

bodes snow to blanket

these low beds, dappled now with shadow

as light filters through leaves.

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Patterns of light or storm cloud dark

speak to the living. These sleepers

cannot wake to marvel at the sky.

Deep-mourned, they all are gone

to an unfathomable shade

which we, in time, will reach.

Black Crow

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Black crow stands on the wombat’s back

to tear through flesh to the bones that crack.

Black crow waits to make a move

and destroy what’s left of life and love.

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Black crow, pain, with its savage beak

turns deaf ears to each moan, each