from the editor's desk
‘The House’ by Kristian Radford
This poem by Kristian Radford was published in Westerly 69.1 and we’re thrilled to make it freely available for everyone to read here on the Editor’s Desk.
Kristian Radford lives in Melbourne. His poems have previously appeared in a range of publications including The Suburban Review, Antipodes, Australian Poetry Journal and Australian Poetry Anthology. He works as a secondary school teacher.
The House
I see it floating, walls transparent
edged in bright white like the bones of a constellation
it’s both night and day there, mildly utopian
like the Sunshine Coast in the 90s
it catches the sunlight like gossamer
crystallised desire, sculpted sugar
• • •
wherever that house was, it’s been replaced by a crater
or maybe now a freshly risen lawn, a few butterflies
life walks away from it
nostalgia is an earthy perfume, sinking into hunger
once every month or so I see it, lying in bed at 2 a.m.
lacuna that memory can’t fill
helpless waterlily loose on a dark lake
