Poem: Still life with lake and egret
This week’s winter-themed Poet’s Corner contribution comes from Jules Leigh Koch in Adelaide.
Still life with lake and egret
dwarfed by cathedrals
of pine trees
spiralling up through fog
and earth pegged down
around you
under a hunched-over sky
you lie hidden
beneath your own
misty breath
committing yourself
to yet another winter
of solitary confinement
you have an appetite
for logs and branches
which drift across your surface
partly submerged
and from amongst reeds
the half-formed notes
of newborn birds
echo out over the water
when from the embankment
an egret’s clawed feet
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crack open
the opaque glass of your surface
Jules Leigh Koch, born in Sydney, was raised and lives in Adelaide. The author of five poetry collections and the recipient of two South Australian Literature Grants in 2008 and 2011, he was a guest reader at Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2017, and has been a judge for the last three biennial John Bray Festival Awards in 2017, 2019 and 2021. He has also worked as a mentor with writers from the Richard Llewellyn Arts and Disability Trust.