Poem: Valley Green and She-oak Black
This week’s Poet’s Corner contribution is from Peter Penn.
Valley Green and She-oak Black
Ghost Tree Gully, Black Hill, Winter, 2022
Darkened storm clouds, winds careen
Over verdant valley, deepest green
Before sunset, winds grow still
Upon first footfall, towards Black Hill
Winds gust in from along the coast
Lashing rock and hillside post
Encroaching escarpment skyward wind
Ascending steeply rocky climb
Winding through the she-oaks in a mournful ragged howl
Echoing through the valleys along the empty trail
Craggy twisted silhouette
Blackened rusted pirouette
A dark assembly these
A bitter crop of widow’s weeds
In grievous supplication
Bowed silently awaiting
A fateful late return
Ancient nights sojourn
Before sun sets completely
Darkness consumes obliquely
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Beware the phantoms that lie sleeping
Beneath spectral branches creaking
Sometimes they come back
The denizens of Ghost Tree Gully track
Peter Penn is an artist living in the foothills of the Mt Lofty Ranges. A graduate in Visual Art and Applied Design from the Adelaide College of the Arts, his painting is influenced by sources ranging from primitive art to pop culture. He is particularly interested in the passage of time and its effects on the physical world, with much of his work falling “between the figurative and the abstract”. And being a devotee “rambler and clamberer amongst the tea trees” has also had no small part in his output both written and visual. More about Peter and his work can be found here.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.