for Amy

She was a pebble like me

washing through the river

but I heard her smile and I saw her thoughts:

and wanted to be like her

a selkie diving again and again

into the Irish sea –

she came up through the ocean

and whispered mischief in my ear

take a selfie with me she said

and we counted out the ways we might snapchat

infinity as if ours – ours – ours –

            the bar was vast and smoky around us

and in the ceiling: a circular opening

shaped like a spaceship

through which the sky was closed to the stars

but lightful

later I stepped into the Cremorne streets

feeling the planets spin in unison

the cherry trees in winter     black as glass

against a mythic eyelid sky

Jennifer Harrison has published eight poetry collections, with her ninth ‘Sideshow History’ appearing later this year (from Black Pepper Press). She is currently Chair of the World Psychiatry Association’s Section for Art and Psychiatry and has received the Christopher Brennan Award for contribution to Australian poetry.