New Year’s Day
Michelle Dicinoski (University of Queensland, Australia)
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I’m trying to write that last time with you…..five hours into the new year
how we spilled from our tent…..from our love-making
into pre-dawn light…..to piss under tea-trees.
I’m trying to write the light…..(was it blue or violet?)
supernatural on our skin…..I could only look and look
inhale the day and its scents…..and tell myself remember this
I’m trying to write the air…..(do you remember?)
menthol and citrus so crisp…..it fell on the tongue like a lozenge
until you gave me your mouthful of petals.
I’m trying to write the you…..(if only you saw)
so holy in the half-light…..when I saw you
for the first time…..and knew it was the last.
I am trying to write the loss…..five hours into the new year
how I found you in the space…..between night and day
and lost you to the sun…..among tea-trees.
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Michelle Dicinoski’s poems have appeared in The Best Australian Poems 2004, the Australian Literary Review, and the Australian. In 2008, she received an Australian Society of Authors mentorship to aid completion of her poetry collection, “Electricity for Beginners.” She is completing a PhD in creative writing (creative non-fiction) at the University of Queensland.
