Month: June 2026

Catchment Issue 6 Poetry of Place and my poem Threnody

colleen Poetry, Poetry Awards , , , ,

Baw Baw Arts Alliance

 

 CATCHMENT  Issue 6

 FOREWORD – EDITION 6: CATCHMENT – POETRY OF PLACE

In compiling this sixth issue, our team at Catchment – Poetry of Place remains grateful to the Baw Baw Arts Alliance for continuing to give this digital poetry journal a home in its website. Our ongoing quest is to provide opportunities to poets across Australia, whether new voices or longer-term contributors, in exploring various developing senses of place in their creative work. Our feeling of pride extends to ways this project has already grown over the last half-year.

Baw Baw Art Alliance

Colleen Keating

Threnody

a tanka sequence

lament
from shocked silence
a song breaks out
voices trail away
into shallow breathing

holding each other
they bow over the flowers
a bee drones
sounds of heavy hearts
thrum in unison

seagulls stand
by an azure sea
Bondi Beach
the horizon mists up
a blur of sea and sky

at my window
a candle braves its light
into the dark
can flickering flames lighten
the long night ?

_____________________________________________________________

mulga dreaming

the solidarity of the ground
we rest on tonight
sky shot with silver
streamed with shooting stars
Is but the threshold for a mind to open

it is mulga country the Tanami
red dirt spinifex
and black silhouetted branches
haunt the horizon
here the world is given to itself

listen
how deep is the silence
deep as the darkest black hole of the sky

rest
count the stars
let the horizon centre our world

_________________________________________________________________

Colleen Keating is an international award-winning Sydney poet and writes on Kur-ring-gai country.
Her poetry is published in journals and she has eight books of poetry.
She was the runner-up in the 2025 Ros Spencer WA Poetry Award.

Echidna Tracks Issue 17 Winter/Spring ed Gavin Austin & Marilyn Humbert

colleen Poetry , ,
I am very pleased to have my haiku accepted for publication in the latest Haiku Journal,  Echidna Tracks  #17 Open Theme
Thank you to the editors,

Gavin Austin & Marilyn Humbert, for their dedication to poetry, haiku-writing  and poets. 
_____
after they leave
his tiny handprint remains        
on my coffee table
Colleen Keating
Australia
__________

Eucalypt: a tanka journal Issue 40, 2026 ed Julia Thorndyke

colleen Poetry , , ,

 

i am honoured to have my tanka on Presence accpted and published in Eucalypt  40 th edition. im. Stephen Matthews

Tnank you to the very experienced editor Julie Thorndyke for her dedication to our tanka and to poetry.

 

 

Dear Colleen,

Thank you for your submission to Eucalypt 40, which closed on 31 March 2026.

I have pleasure in accepting the following poem

 

 

outside the window
as we launch his final book
pelicans circle . . .
no one questions
his presence with us

Colleen Keating

Thank you once again for sharing your tanka with Eucalypt readers.

Julie Thorndyke,  editor

 

 

Issue 40

To celebrate issue 40 of Eucalypt we have a lovely, refreshed cover design by Matthew George, and a new website to bring together

in one convenient place all the information, e-newsletters, links and scribble award poems.

Twenty years of tanka poetry in a printed journal is a milestone to celebrate.

Eucalypt is going strong and we look forward to another decade of beautiful, original, and timeless poems expressing the wide range of human emotions.

Glad to have you along for the journey!

 

 

 

Australian Poetry Collaboration issue 40 ed. Lynn Clayton & Les Wicks

colleen Poetry , , , ,

Feeling very honoured to have my poem Crow  included  in the latest copy of Australian Poetry Collaboration .  Thank you to the editors Lynn Clayton & Les Wicks for their dedication to poetry and poets and for a new fine journal.

 

Crow

it spoke in three syllable words 

                      sharp, dogmatic

i understood crow dialect 

                        but didn’t agree

ignored its marbling eye

                       its glassy glare  

noted its clawed determination 

                   

 its groomed coat 

                            of arrogance

 now its mortal reality was too much

                             so I flew off

I am delighted to share the pages of Australian Poetry Collaboration #40 Speaking in Tongues with so many f poets I know included in its pages.  You can find it here: https://meusepress.org/apc.

Australian Poetry Collaboration issue 40 ed. Lynn Clayton & Les Wicks

Hi Colleen,

Thanks for sending your work. We would like to use Crow. You will be contacted later with proofs.

Please send a max 50w bio by 24th May.

Regards

Lynn Clayton & Les Wicks     (editors)

The 40th issue of Australian Poetry Collaboration is now up at https://meusepress.org/apc

The focus for this issue is the very broad “speaking in tongues”. It contains work from a number of newer voices alongside globally recognised poets. 

Editors: Lynn Clayton & Les Wicks

For those interested in name similarities, the first issue emerged in 1999. Well before Australian Poetry, its predecessor Australian Poetry Centre & the magazine Australian Poetry Journal.

In its time APC has published work in a host of languages chosen by a diverse range of editors. 

It has been recognised & preserved as a part of our nation’s cultural heritage by the National library’s Pandora project while it continues to reach a substantial audience.

There is an open callout for submissions policy, stating theme. Issues usually twice per year.

contact: [email protected]