Kissing don’t last: cookery do — George Meredith On the day Max broke my heart, I baked a cake. While I greased and lined the spring-form cake pan I thought to …
Dancers in Violet (Tristan Foster)
First time I left her home, I looked up and a stiff fruit-bat was dangling from the electrical wire. Next time I left her home, the bat was in the …
Sound bites (John Clanchy)
Three words. Three tiny, banal words that had somehow – among the tens of thousands of others spilt in the cafe that morning – made their way through the clashing …
Watch Every Drop: a community service announcement composed for those who survived the Fall (Kirk Marshall)
There’d never come a newly-minted, indignant crimson-kissed day in this place which didn’t evoke some dark, frost-sorry memories to that time when we still had water. I can’t speak for …
Departure Gate (Anthony Macris)
Christina’s gone. In the corner of the bedroom are the cardboard cartons to be sent on to Brisbane, where she’s gone to be with her family again. The day after …
A Dog’s Name (Paul Adkin)
I got him second-hand. His first owners had called him Kafka, which I had to change: an ennobling name for a dog, but demeaning for the great Prague writer. I …
One Perfect Day (Amanda Marx)
It was just a glimpse I caught of you Not quite enough to fill the gap Between the knowing and déjà vu My mirror image to unwrap Reflected there behind …
Enlightened (Autumn Royal)
Susan started smoking when she was sixty-three. She was bored with crossword puzzles, vacuuming carpet, and yelling through the tiny holes of the telephone. While zapping her routine Thursday-night Lamb …
Rare and endangered (Robyn Cadwallader)
Her parents had named her Dale. Dale Bailey Collins, but at home they called her Bailey, each claiming it was the other one that had wanted Dale. And so, Bailey …
Ogres are like Onions (Kyle Leong)
The stars saved my life, it’s true. I had the whole thing planned out. There is a table by the lake. Sort of. It’s either an uncomfortable piece of picnic …