New England Award — Yumna Kassab
Also Highly Commended in the Poetry Category
Yumna Kassab was born and raised in Western Sydney. She completed her schooling in Parramatta, except for two formative years when she lived in Lebanon with her family. She went on to study medical science at Macquarie University and neuroscience at Sydney University. She currently teaches in the New England region.
Her first book, The House of Youssef, is available from Giramondo Publishing.
Judge’s comment on the poem:
25 May 1870 is titled after the date of Captain Thunderbolt’s death. The poem is arranged graphically to evoke a tombstone. It makes use of short phrases to conjure a sense of finality and austerity.
Her first book, The House of Youssef, is available from Giramondo Publishing.
Judge’s comment on the poem:
25 May 1870 is titled after the date of Captain Thunderbolt’s death. The poem is arranged graphically to evoke a tombstone. It makes use of short phrases to conjure a sense of finality and austerity.
25 May 1870
“Gone from sight but to memory dear” – a headstone in Uralla
Steady now let it stand the ground shakes no that is in my head waters murky with suffocation my horse lost to time I shall clamber I shall stand lean this post this tree it is a support leave the roar it is cloud rain and ground salt of sweat and tears one weeps we all do when faced with an end there is red it clings to my shirt the red of dying days the red of blood the earth and I comingled from the dust to it we return shots count them they are a trail their path here it leads I remember Mary I remember another names slip mine will be lost it will be buried like the dead they litter the land where I stand though I do not see their bones he will come here he will chase as the others chased to a trial to a prison freedom brief be your name one evades the law not God and fate the dark hour falls the sun loses its grip it slips to its rest here he rides he smells blood the sharks did too those harbour days evasion once twice sixty but not every time my escape is cut short like a string the balloon flies let loose it belongs to the sky my end will be a pond it will be a creek my horse shot I stumble in mud there is nothing upon which I can stand a cane like an old man brought to my knees his shadow falls it blocks out the sky darkness when it falls it is complete pity me now I did not mean for this not this end not this life I’ll die first the fates deem fit a man returned to his Creator I will fade from sight perhaps in someone’s heart I shall remain dear.
Steady now let it stand the ground shakes no that is in my head waters murky with suffocation my horse lost to time I shall clamber I shall stand lean this post this tree it is a support leave the roar it is cloud rain and ground salt of sweat and tears one weeps we all do when faced with an end there is red it clings to my shirt the red of dying days the red of blood the earth and I comingled from the dust to it we return shots count them they are a trail their path here it leads I remember Mary I remember another names slip mine will be lost it will be buried like the dead they litter the land where I stand though I do not see their bones he will come here he will chase as the others chased to a trial to a prison freedom brief be your name one evades the law not God and fate the dark hour falls the sun loses its grip it slips to its rest here he rides he smells blood the sharks did too those harbour days evasion once twice sixty but not every time my escape is cut short like a string the balloon flies let loose it belongs to the sky my end will be a pond it will be a creek my horse shot I stumble in mud there is nothing upon which I can stand a cane like an old man brought to my knees his shadow falls it blocks out the sky darkness when it falls it is complete pity me now I did not mean for this not this end not this life I’ll die first the fates deem fit a man returned to his Creator I will fade from sight perhaps in someone’s heart I shall remain dear.
