Such a little room
line by line
to keep my honeyeaters in
Walls held by feather and spit
If I feed them enough
I will be reborn
able to hold on
And soon they feed all day
and I get bored sick
stuck at the sink
in my big house
making meals that keep
them keen
I soon lose the will
and no longer
care for feathered walls
honey bird spit
sitting in my tree house
freezer crammed
with curry and rice
so I slash the canvas
with red
bleeding down the sky
They hate what I’ve done
but I don’t care because I’m now
interested
in nothing else
but building the poem
Julie Maclean was shortlisted for the Crashaw Prize (Salt), Whitmore and Press Press prizes, and joint winner of the Geoff Stevens Poetry Prize (UK). Julie is the author of ‘When I saw Jimi’ (Indigo Dreams) and ‘Kiss of the Viking’ (Poetry Salzburg). Poetry and short fiction features in leading international journals and The Best Australian Poetry (UQP). She also blogs at www.juliemacleanwriter.com