Viscous Hills

the small hours are all about compost—
wanderlust of priceless larvae
& transcendent effect of unremarkable habits

universe is fast with silent undertow:
the accumulation of pauses between
rats gybing under bricks, over elliptical regime—

skeleton view, curling leaf, pitted snakeskin
mosaic, eyes left alive to face monotony of
shadowless withering & familiar worldly occult

Barnaby Smith is a poet, journalist and musician currently living in northern New South Wales, Australia. His poetry has appeared in Cordite, Southerly, FourW, Foam:e, Best Australian Poems, Australian Poetry Anthology, Meniscus, Transnational Literature, Molly Bloom and others. His arts and music criticism has appeared in or at Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Australian Book Review, The Quietus and others, and he records music as Brigadoon. www.brigadoon.bandcamp.com