little sticks

POETRY

little sticks

Penny Drysdale

“Puppy Dog With A Stick" by ShebleyCL is licensed under CC BY 2.0

little sticks have fallen

from the canopy and the ants have

found something sticky in the morning

sun a sweet thing discarded forgotten

but it gives them pleasure and evokes

great activity

                           the little dog is going

from the smell of one tree to another

he comes to me licks my arm

and I stroke him for a while

                                                      everything

is looking for little sticks of love that

vanish unless you give them away unless

you allow them to

                                     fall           

Penny Drysdale grew up in central Victoria and lived in Alice Springs for seven years working at the Arrernte-run Akeyulerre healing centre. She is currently a lawyer and policy adviser in Darwin. Penny won the NT Literary Awards Poetry Prize in 2015 and her first book of poetry ‘Dew and Broken Glass’ was published in 2017. Penny is editing a book of poetry by Arrernte women on the theme Lyapirtneme | Returning. She is working on her second book about love, endings and renewal.