Author Archives: chloeroselilly

an expansive succession of months, stillness and volcanic movement a blood-bathed hacksaw  taken to the hedgerows of my life unfinished in its infinite divisions and I never could wrap my head around calculus  the ungraspable whole so I draw focus to the minutiae: rain pooling in the open palms of nasturtium; the afternoon sun inContinue reading “twentytwenty”

the night is still the sun, an overripe persimmon descends through a shroud five hundred cockatoos take flight an evening squall: our warning from the south wind like a melting glacier, an avalanche through a chasm takes our breath away we hold our hands to our faces, stare into the rising cloud a dark fungusContinue reading “our mother, burning”

Salty rims and too-warm wine it took me two minutes to do my makeup in the rear vision mirror hands trembling like stuck cicadas as they slide closer to my knees i’m so late, (28!) Unshackled, undone the nail in the coffin of my aborted marriage a life in ruins and I’m high on adrenalineContinue reading “Jesus Came to My Birthday Party”

I don’t walk alone very often anymore A set of single footprints tracking across Dirt like soot Mashing gum leaves the color of a pastel rainbow Dusty pink, wattle and lime My thoughts carry me like a conversation Over the burning rise to the spinifex Her shimmering mass before us Glimmering and sliding Clouds likeContinue reading “Fading away”

My hands grasp tight the empty air And I can hear my breath If this song doesn’t strike me down Then the hunger will The air is sucked out of my lungs like the speckled stars in an unlucky galaxy ingested by a wormhole These bit down fingernails hanging around my throat like a gaudyContinue reading “Now you’re gone”

Wishing away these shoestring years The cold breath of winter gasping up through pencil-wide gaps in the floor Breath like smoke puffs While croaking heaters sit unplugged Overgrown lawns and porridge for dinner Budgets tighter than the waistband of my pre maternity jeans Leaving angry red marks along all our happy places Nowhere to callContinue reading “Wishing away my life, one sleepless night at a time”

The last time I saw blood  I was in the basement of a Fluorescent lit Roman cafe, in limbo, Sipping red wine Before our dinner reservation I’d thought, that maybe, The seed of a baby Had been planted Beside a Venetian canal  Four weeks before I rejoiced, I grieved For these hands were already loadedContinue reading “Hello again, old friend”

Screeching cockies  Plum staining the sky We left it too late Our breath, clouds  And the lamplights whirred golden We could hear the music from streets away The pummeling of drum skins And a sitar  Rosy light from fires  Underneath the looming gum trees Shedding leaves and branches They snuggled in, the two broken-off bitsContinue reading “A night out”

I was told I was beautiful, once  Loveless, void I’m half the woman I thought Stringy haired and bloodshot I sit alone, walls blank Nobody talks to me    Not the right fit for anyone My edges gouge and leave empty spaces Leaves fall, dark purple like clotted blood I’m chilled right down to myContinue reading “I was told I was beautiful, once”

Saying goodbye to empty rooms Palms on bare boards that held your bed Cupboards that yawn like empty tombs If you were here what would you have said?   Amber bars of light from slatted blinds Where you stood white-capped, serene A trail of dirty finger marks left behind  That final garden in all itsContinue reading “Ivory Walls, Empty Rooms”