Australian poets Toby Davidson and Mark Reid speak to Verity La La editor Michele Seminara about their new collections, The Grand Reopening and The Blessed Affliction. You can read a poem …
Wax and Wane: three poems (Peter Mitchell)
Intoxication for J For years, my heart was drunk on you — each sight …
Pacing the Stage (Deborah Conway)
On October 3 2023, I released a memoir, Book of Life. Four days later, the world changed. On October 7 we were in the middle of a matinee performance of …
‘We’ll Always Have Paris’ (Devika Brendon)
Humphrey Bogart says this to Ingrid Bergman in the film Casablanca. A great exit line, as he farewells the love of his life with supreme gallantry and apparent nonchalance. Paris …
I’M GAY BUT I KNOW JESUS: an interview with performer Melody Rachel
Melody Rachel doesn’t so much perform as detonate — sometimes with laughter, sometimes with prayer, sometimes with the quiet implosion of shame turned inside out. Growing up Christian, she inherited …
The Work of Atonement: Bogimbah Creek Mission (Fiona Foley)
Queensland has so far alienated about 10,000,000 acres of freehold land, and leased about 300,000,000 acres for pastoral occupation. For the first we have received about six and a quarter …
Set Me Free (Jalal Mahamede)
COURT Judge: What’s your name? Accused: Human. Judge: Who are your parents? Accused: Neither mother nor father. Judge: Place of birth? Accused: Paradise that has turned to ruins. Judge: Family …
OPENING THE INNER EYE: Anne Casey’s ‘the light we cannot see’
Review by Wendy J Dunn Edited by Robyn Cadwallader We surface abruptly Somewhere between the third and fourth stages, …
The Mask’s Weight (Amanda Anastasi)
Artist’s Statement ‘The Mask’s Weight’ is a poem written during the COVID-19 pandemic and during Melbourne 6th COVID lockdown. It explores the idea that wearing a mask is a lesser restriction …
Let It Not Be This (Jen Chen)
Long Bay Hospital On the first visit to my client, not guilty by reason of mental illness, Long Bay Hospital extracted biometrics for their security system, digital fingerprints and snaps …