Outliers

Can I write my life

as a poem

Quick short flashes of insight

of LSD, aka acid, colours

Bright edgy

Stare and dive into them

Driving by Aussie icons daily

Giant flagpole above the Parliament House

Flag flapping in the wind

A flag subservient to the British monarchy

Looking on but feeling no connection

Compare the figures

in painter Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly series

Aussie landscape backgrounded

Stretching, shapely, tonal, subtle, expansive land

Figures of Ned Kelly and British police

Flat, harsh, superimposed

Not belonging in the Aussie landscape

Outliers

When and where do I belong

There is a place

A shared space for me

and extremely endangered gum trees

Callum Brae Nature Reserve

Here I belong

Talking to the trees

I reassure them

I will take a stand to protect

Our shared space

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Author: Pamela Collett

I was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. I have a B.A. from Stanford University and a M.Sc. from Cornell University. I have lived and worked in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland, California as well as in Washington, DC. Outside the United States, I lived and worked in Venezuela, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Uganda, Somalia and Kenya. I currently live in Canberra, Australia. I edited three books: Bold Plum: with the Guerillas in China's War against Japan by Hsiao Li Lindsay; Peace and Milk: Scenes of Northern Somalia by James Lindsay and Fatima Jibrell; and Solo vale si piensas rápido by Mehedy Lopez, a book of poetry in Spanish. In 2016, I published a book of my poetry and drawings, Silence Spoken. I have taught communication skills, English as a second language, and English for journalists (in Beijing, China) at university and secondary school levels. I was a features writer for the Daily Journal, (Caracas, Venezuela), and The Chronicle of Higher Education. I am a member of the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Writers Centre, active in a writers’ group and a contributor to poetry readings, That Poetry Thing, in Canberra, Australia.

2 thoughts on “Outliers”

  1. Life is rich in color for you
    it has always been that way
    you see way more color than the rest of us
    if only we could see a fraction of what you see
    your poems expand our vision

    And the trees
    in this poem they feel like symbols
    for all the undervalued things on this planet
    that you gladly step in and protect

    I’m grateful you care as much as you do
    I know it overwhelms you at times
    in a world that seems to care very little
    I know you won’t stop caring

    Like

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