Looking For Edges
i
dragonflies hover over
the edges of my shroud
they fly off lifting layer
after layer – I don’t know where
they take each sheath – I don’t
think they fold it ready
for my next death they are
too erratic for that
ii
tiny barred finches
black stripes beautiful and I cry
knowing their cages go with them
everywhere a part of who
they are – is that what makes us
beautiful – we can’t fly away
from the cages
we wear
iii
shadows of dragonflies
weave new paths across all
the old ones and spiders weave
traps that sometimes come
untethered see – an edge of web
lifts – towards an ocean bursting
with peaks of light the knot
inside me loosens there is room
for a few more steps
along the road
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.