Phillip Elliott writes

 Shadow Running

10,000 miles from the chasm that opened at our feet

I keep running

(Beauty lies in every soul said a toothless old beggar

& the words pursue me)

Unreachable sun, a sea so full, so vast

Unbearably forever

(Beauty lies in every)

Lush rainforest, light which roars

Air thick&wet, one million insects hum

How far must I go to

Forget what I’ve done?

(Beauty lies in)

Adelaide River, muddy&secret, saltwater crocs

Raise ridged heads, a sense of being hunted

(Beauty lies)

Indian Ocean, 60 miles in, eerie silence of a dive

Cage, great whites advance out of the foggy blue

(Beauty)

Eternal Outback, sizzling rocks, red everything

Landscapes that shimmer: nothing in each direction

How far must I go to

Come undone?

Ayer Rock -- Eric Stewart

Phillip Elliott writes

what does it feel like

                                        

let it out in small bursts 

controlled—you don’t want to 

                                                          fall down there           

you nearly didn’t make it out last

                         pain 

filtered through chord progressions

melodious mellifluous repetitive taunting repetitive taunting repetitive taunting so good  

what track is this it reminds me of repetitive taunting repetitive taunting excellent lyrics

heart tremors cracked like gravel like eggshells like withered sorghum like longing

but don’t you know you’re in this for the long haul you should have 

ended it when

you

had

the

chance or at least make the most of it buy a new car or even a new tie I

hear they're half price at tesco it will go well with your bored face and you

can always use it to 

                                 hang 

                                           yourself—

hallways to Liminal multicolouredpills

Dreamer, time to wake

find the rest of you (in the cavity of her chest) 

Don’t Loiter In The Vacuum

 

 Liminal -- Mary Brack

Phillip Elliott writes

Ghosts Are Cliché and So Were We                                               

 

First we were haunted by Time. She stood in every corner 

pointing at her wrist, face torn with sorrow, hunched and

reluctant — a mortician too long in the job.

3days was never enough / 3days was everything.

I was plagued by mind shadows, you, pursued by 

etchings on those old Scottish walls; I should have

been singing hymns when you chose me to run to. 

And local punk band, Ghost Trap, and how we danced,

couldn’t make out the words except for ‘loneliness’ on

that song, Mascara, and all the times yours bled into

trails of ash, and how I should have wiped them clean,

started afresh — ah, what good is regret.

Haunted too we were by the change in seasons and how 

it signalled your going away. ‘Summer never ends,’ a man

shouted at us, and how hard we struggled to believe him.

                                    You wore a perfume called Ghost; I

                                    remember the smell: lavender&hope.

Now I’m haunted by you, by us, by every-fucking-thing 

you touched, and you touched my soul, dipped yourself

right into my chest, took with you the planet and all the

dizzy spin of it. Time, though, she’s still here, tapping that 

skinny ancient wrist, eyes like holes, tears in her fist, but my

frustration is reversed, no more praying for her to slow down. 

‘Count faster,’ I scream, ‘all that’s left for you to take is the wait.’ 

She never answers, just stares in terror, mouth bleeding off her face. 

                                     But the real ghost is our innocence. I tore it

                                     out of our chests and painted the past with it.

 

 

 

 

 Woman Shadowed by Ghost of Other -- Marco Zubar