Senior Secondary
Senior Secondary Senior Secondary
Tears glitter in the sunlight that appears for you. The wind picks up and gently gently You float out of the box. Sometimes landing in the river, sometimes on the ground beside me. You have been freed, I have not. I cast my eyes around and latch onto a speck of grey ash twisting in the air. It flies higher, higher until I can see it no more. I know now somewhere you are flying free. Judge’s Comment A lovely poem. Abigail Budiawan Regents Park Christian School REGENTS PARK NSW The Grey and Faded Photograph, on the Wall Over There Thrust forward by the ship, silver and cold, lips twixt in disdain, He is heralded by a grey ceiling and hard brown underfoot, while the Ocean, frothing and black behind him, Turmoils like homesickness, deep in his gut. Crooked brown buildings, framed with rusty, ragged edges, Line the busy, abandoned road. He watches with undedicated curiosity – past him people swarm, in tight, winding circles Of shuffling feet and turned shoulder. Oh sweet home! he murmurs, Through lips wrapped in tendrils of blue, as wandering thoughts scale across his eyes Leaping from sunlight, to wide, green valleys, To vast blue sea. Different, he thinks, as different as blood and water, Pouring into an open pit. Circles drift toward him, swirling like the darting Silver fish who swim as one. 6
But there, an inky black gap, hiding a comforting warm; He seamlessly creeps forward To seal his place. Hidden within their shadows, he scuffs up streaks of dust And they grumble, pale fingers poking, Clawed nails digging, pushing, prodding, Dragging filthy shoes down abandoned Road, kicking smudged and callused feet In heel and soul. Blood and water, he remembers. Salvation is elsewhere, and he leaves the chattering silence, And heart wrenching coldness, That rip at his clothes and cling to his wrists. Salvation is elsewhere, and he throws himself Upon its stake. But the circles melt away, and he sits frozen: sifting useless grains Through wide, open gaps, Distorted by tiny transparent flecks of rain, That have lingered on the camera lens. Judge’s Comment Imaginative, clever and effective descriptions, and excellent poem. Jack Burnham Caloundra Christian College CALOUNDRA QLD Dispossession The muddy, serpentine sprawl of river, swelling, straining against its banks. Breaching. Breaking. Breathing. Cascading down potholed roads, crashing against concrete gutters like knives. And faces of brick; mottled and dead. Laughing. Reaching the level, the city; the end. Building up on itself, destroying all with itself. Get washed away. Get soaked. It‟s soul destroying, this is. When you have to bail yourself out of what used to be your home: your own. Evicted by the very substance 7
- Page 1 and 2: Senior Secondary __________________
- Page 3 and 4: The mellowness of the hollow terrac
- Page 5: His woollen jumper i hold in my han
- Page 9 and 10: But together a creature that moves
- Page 11 and 12: Even challenging change and being f
- Page 13 and 14: again And we swam once more. The ne
- Page 15 and 16: Table groaning beneath the weight o
- Page 17 and 18: The whole earth seems to illuminate
- Page 19 and 20: I wish they‟d snapped a candid sh
- Page 21 and 22: Madeleine La James Ruse Agricultura
- Page 23 and 24: Crystals creeping from root to tip
- Page 25 and 26: BELLEVUE HILL NSW Terra Nullius The
- Page 27 and 28: For they look upon, Smiles bitterly
- Page 29 and 30: Inferno in Arafura Overboard at Chr
- Page 31 and 32: Only through this, their immobile f
But there, an inky black gap, hiding a comforting warm;<br />
He seamlessly creeps forward<br />
To seal his place.<br />
Hidden within their shadows, he scuffs up streaks of dust<br />
And they grumble, pale fingers poking,<br />
Clawed nails digging, pushing, prodding,<br />
Dragging filthy shoes down abandoned<br />
Road, kicking smudged and callused feet<br />
In heel and soul.<br />
Blood and water, he remembers.<br />
Salvation is elsewhere, and he leaves the chattering silence,<br />
And heart wrenching coldness,<br />
That rip at his clothes and cling to his wrists.<br />
Salvation is elsewhere, and he throws himself<br />
Upon its stake.<br />
But the circles melt away, and he sits frozen: sifting useless grains<br />
Through wide, open gaps,<br />
Distorted by tiny transparent flecks of rain,<br />
That have lingered on the camera lens.<br />
Judge’s Comment<br />
Imaginative, clever and effective descriptions, and excellent poem.<br />
Jack Burnham<br />
Caloundra Christian College<br />
CALOUNDRA QLD<br />
Dispossession<br />
The muddy, serpentine sprawl of river,<br />
swelling, straining against its banks.<br />
Breaching. Breaking. Breathing.<br />
Cascading down potholed roads,<br />
crashing against concrete gutters like knives. And faces<br />
of brick; mottled and dead. Laughing.<br />
Reaching the level, the city; the end.<br />
Building up on itself, destroying all with itself.<br />
Get washed away. Get soaked.<br />
It‟s soul destroying, this is. When<br />
you have to bail yourself out<br />
of what used to be your home: your own.<br />
Evicted by the very substance<br />
7
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