Five Poems
Dianne Cikusa
Omniscient
The guardian is lonely.
He stares at windows in the walls.
[he listens to blind wails]
He waits for rooves to collapse,
and for tears to descend.
The Martyr
Cultivations of personality—
growing on the ceiling of our thoughts
with grisly precision
… the [braised] revelations
of human impulse;
Grief—
bears witness (in an aquarium)
Verbs & Adjectives
In vestiges of blood, we Swim
only in Regret;
In Peace—we have flown
past billowing Hope,
fleeing soiled dreams and
Ruined music—
] through to the foundation
of Solid Light.
The Red Door
For you, I have bled,
Mother—the deepest
orifice of Soul;
Cry-Baby
My Tears washed back to heaven,
my cold heart left to dry alone.
On Callous Land
Intellectual lawn—that we’ve
progressively mowed down
Burning the bed linen—So
the mare can sleep as best as she can
Dispose of a head,
over-occupied with words
(and murder)
guilt has devoured the birds
And the night has accrued
sweat—Love is no longer edible. The carpet is still.
Dianne Cikusa was born in Australia. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Cordite Poetry Review, Going Down Swinging, Windmills, Zine West, Subtle Tea, NWG Pop-Up and Haiku Zines, as well in Poets Union Anthology (Melbourne), Short & Twisted, One Surviving Poem, and two bilingual anthologies. In 2010, one of her poems also appeared as digital media in the Melbourne Overload Poetry Festival. Dianne is the author of three books of poetry including an international award-winning bilingual collection in English-French. The collection received First prize in Poetry and Third prize for Best Book Cover in the 2020 Global Ebook Awards. Recent publications include three books of wisdom quotes (published by Mignon Press, 2020).