Senior Secondary

Judge’s Comment
A life called up with a few intense images and well-chosen words; the sense of
someone standing there bereft is palpable. A memorable, pleasing poem.
Isabel Mai
Presbyterian Ladies' College
BURWOOD VIC
The Drowned Disposition
When he removes his arms from around you, you cannot hear
the crackling of the thunder, the street lights flickering, only
the deafening silence of your heart, which ceases to tell you it
is still pumping, keeping you safe with velvet vermillion. Perhaps
this is how you find yourself clutching at your pearls, the ones
he gave you when he took you to the school dance and
did the twist in the middle of the floor. You don‟t even like pearls.
The literary sense in you wants to think of this as a mere complication,
because true lovers always find their way back to each other.
Then awareness sets in and a match is lit, you think of controlling
the sparks in the sky, growing ever-present in your pursuit to
take it in your hand and spear it straight through him, though
in reality, nature is only palpable when you are hopeless
to the world, raining down and down, dragging you down with it.
The truth is that you will just lie there, because he was the chest
to cry on and the tenderness that you always needed.
Judge’s Comment
The graceful rhythm of this poem, which matches perfectly the train of thought, is
impressively handled; a confident, assured and effective poem.
Kayla Wilton
Ogilvie High School
NEW TOWN TAS
Pop
I remember you
So old and grumpy
That smoker‟s cough
The way you had that cheeky grin
Your smell was hard to explain,
Comforting, the smell of your favourite food,
The good old lamb shank.
Your stories I still remember,
Concreting tales, being amongst „the boys‟,
Your stubbornness and refusal to give in,
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