A scale catches the light. A gold coin
and a gold fish flash in the moat
of a university house. I am torn by this
writing whiteness, the attempt to read
myself otherwise, an urge to get out
of the way. The page is neither clean
nor blank. A seedpod falls from an imported
elm. The wind takes dry pennies
for a spin. Urban peak hour. The place
is all we have for now. The page
is asphalt, gravel, dirt. The line
is red and grey and, broken it signifies
corrugations of intent, a currency too far —
of people and fish and seasonal water.
photo credit: Monica Williams
Anne Elvey is managing editor of Plumwood Mountain journal. She holds honorary appointments at Monash University and University of Divinity. Her publications include Kin (Five Islands, 2014) and This Flesh that You Know (Leaf Press, 2015). White on White is forthcoming from Cordite Books in 2017.