Waking to the wonder

in my brother’s voice —

his shrill delight

shaking him for once

from his teenage retreat —

I arose to a new world,

without colour:

all crystal-white,

magically softened and

glowing at the edges

drawing us out

with its silent allure

to explore

familiar places

rendered strange.

Past the edge of town,

undisturbed by a soul,

caught by the urge

to jump a wall and run

full-tilt into its empty embrace:

whump! I had sunk,

softly held

in all that whiteness;

cushioned from the world,

I could be there still.

We dragged home

without a word,

mirth stolen by the cold;

the sudden warmth at the door,

my mother’s voice

reluctantly returning me

to all the colour and clamour

of humanity —

and a pang

at the loss of all that

peace.

© Anne Casey

Picture 10505753, reproduction of a painting by Margaret Tarrant, circa 1920s, image copyright Mary Evans / Medici

Originally from the west of Ireland and living in Sydney, Anne Casey is an award-winning poet and author of two poetry collections: where the lost things go (Salmon Poetry, 2017, 2^nd ed 2018) and out of emptied cups (Salmon Poetry, 2019). Anne has worked for 30 years as a journalist, magazine editor, media communications director and legal author. Her writing and poetry rank in the leading national daily newspaper, The Irish Times‘ ‘Most-Read’ and are widely published internationally: The Irish Times, Entropy, apt, Murmur House, Quiddity, Barzakh (State University of New York), DASH (California State University), FourXFour (Poetry Northern Ireland), Cordite, The Canberra Times, Verity La and Plumwood Mountain among many others. Anne’s poetry has won/shortlisted for awards in Ireland, Northern Ireland, the USA, the UK, Canada, Hong Kong and Australia. She is Senior Poetry Editor of Other Terrain Journal and Backstory Journal (Swinburne University, Melbourne) and sits on numerous literary advisory boards.