Isi Unikowski
Isi Unikowski’s poetry has been widely published in Australia and overseas. He was shortlisted for the inaugural University of Canberra Vice Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University.
Still Life
As if all the world’s ravel, its bright courseof device were to stream through a pinhole in the sideof a box and emerge into a corridor of Delft tileson which tiny figures from childhood or a dream semaphoreat my self-portrait, ghostly pentimento in its dunvestments, and the servant drying linen in the dunes;the images unclear, inverted. Detailssuch as these meant something to us onc ... (read more)
‘You Never Said It’s A Race, Dad!’
Oh, but it’s a race all right, trust me, kid, thathill he almost managed to beat you to thetop of (‘Rubbish!’) challenged him more than you, de-spite all the picnic
stuff he made you carry in your Batman rucksack.It’s a race to find all the spare parts, becomingantiques, puzzling kids in the bike shop while you’vemultiplied years like
gear rati ... (read more)
The Jugglers
In the warm dusk, pink and purple arcsappear above the old town’s lanesas jugglers toss their clubs outsidea gallery’s bright, acrylic interior.Petunias lean from baskets like cheerful spectatorscarriage horses wait in plumed rowsfor tourists from the ship that dominates the wharfsbelow. A couple and their son pausewith the laughing crowd.He allows himself to be photographedagain ... (read more)
Grammar Lesson
There should be a name for the special casein which we say ‘the crowd marvelled’,if the roar that roseover the back of the stadium wallsover the rain-shingled streetsconveys the sense that what matteredon the pitch, or the court, happenedin the eyes that watched it;
that indicates a place has changedfor our having stood there &nbs ... (read more)