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Underneath silences
Hiding among the spaces between phone calls
Simultaneously conscious and unconscious
A jarring presence, or perhaps none at all
Wedged in gaps between doors and walls
Beneath unused shoes
Hiding between trees in a dense forest
Unintelligible
Unrecognisable
Given names to quiet the human need to know
Names that hold the same importance as the spaces
And the same unimportance
Easy enough to avoid, at least for a little while
Always there
You just have to stop
And listen


Caitlin Mahony (Western Australia)

A Magnifying Glass

A magnifying glass filters the sun
And with patience
I focus the rays to a single dot on the concrete
Moving this dot onto a leaf the power of my dot becomes obvious
First smoke and a smell, then blackness and finally a hole
I make a second, third, fourth
Different leaves, different smells
And soon I am surrounded by holey leaves.

I take my magnifying glass to school. Clouds part and allow me to demonstrate my newfound skill
‘Let me have a go!’
‘I’m next!’
Each, in turn, feels the joy I discovered yesterday.
Again I am surrounded by holey leaves.

But young boys, trying to outdo each other, turn their attentions to innocent ants.
Scanning my dot over the ground
Eventually capturing an ant within its boundaries.
Smoke
Ant gone
Victorious boys find the next victim
And the next
My discovery, turned into a tool of death.
I silently watch on
The ants pay the price for my want to stay quiet
And be accepted.


Caitlin Mahony (Western Australia)