Cath Vidler
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Cath Vidler’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in various literary magazines including HEAT, Sport, Quadrant, Turbine, Southerly and Cordite. Her first collection of poems is forthcoming from Puncher and Wattmann (www.puncherandwattmann.com) in 2010. Cath is the editor of Snorkel (www.snorkel.org.au), a literary magazine specialising in the publication of creative writing by Australians and New Zealanders.
Counting The Stars
Nothing left to do but count
the stars
(I could be here all night).
*
Like stopped confetti
their utterances
reside, bright-lipped
round the moon’s
pale head
(the abacus has gone to bed).
*
Oh chuckling stars
what can I do
but cut my losses
and count on you.
At the Botanic Gardens, Sydney
i.
Bats hang from branches
like pods of midnight,
asleep in the reek
of restless dreams.
ii.
Grass recollects
night-slitherings of eels,
their sibilant tracks
seeking closure
at the pond’s tepid lip.
iii.
Herbs cluster and build,
a storm-system
of piquancy.
iv.
Somewhere,
a drop of rainforest
falls, spreads
to full capacity.