20 Canberran poets boarded and frenetically scribbled poetry as the train chugged towards Sydney. these poems were read on the hour to the poets and passengers who shared the journey. This were then read at Sydney's Central Station, and Australian Poetry had organised another reading at the NSW State Library and we formed the heart of a special slam at the Friend In Hand pub in Glebe.
The poems were collected to be published within a chapbook, and each was entered into the Countrylink Poetry Prize.
My poem, 'Upon Looking Back' was chosen by noted poet Charlotte Clutterbuck to be the recipient of the Countrylink Poetry Prize.
You can read the AP Poetry In Motion article here.
Upon Looking Back
I sat backwards as the train took off
it felt like
coming home/not leaving
the trees moved backward
the clouds rolled backward
rushing towards Canberra
not Sydney
The passengers looked forward to what
was ahead
I mulled the past
The sign:
LARENEG
GNITIAW
MOOR
What else moved in reverse?
I thought perhaps/that just
maybe/possibly/seems weird
But I was travelling backwards
through time?
things seemed less
modern.
strange and older.
I had no watch to test the theory
No. No I was not.
just the next stop was
NAYEBNAEUQ
