Three poems, two of which were previously published in Westerly Magazine, which relate to my genealogical research.
Backwater
My future is backward
I should be far from here
in the opened summer
past
the soldered water's
edge—
the many histories
in the long and odd period
of dormancy I carry.
Tides
Long ago
in a dark land
maternal lineage twice
removed
I’m searching for her
record
in the silt down the Snowy
River forced tides
around the acacia wattle.
River Red Gum
I want my history one face I resemble
even the river red gum is like another
tree with lanced adult leaves and hardened
buds associated with the surface of floods
in recent months the spring stores little to scarce
information under complete submersion for several days.
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