The House Plant
Fabiyas M V
Its possessor won’t let it grow
beyond his conservative outlook.
Its taproot is chained in the pot.
Even its pale patches
are decorations.
Living among the plastic plants
is choking.
It’s denied sunny kisses.
Rain’s romantic whisperings,
it’s never exposed to such ecstasies.
Same sand.
Same experience.
A humdrum existence.
If it’ll deviate from the fixed pattern,
a callous trimmer is always ready.
​
About the Author
​
Fabiyas M V is a writer, poet and teacher from Orumanayur village in Kerala, India. He has been widely published at home and internationally and has won many awards including the Merseyside at War Poetry Award from Liverpool University. His work is regularly featured in The Literary Hatchet and Poetry Nook, and has been broadcast on All India Radio. He was nominated for the 2019 Pushcart Prize by Poetry Nook.
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You can find Stringless Lives, a full-length collection of short stories published by Fabiyas M V in 2020 with Budding Light Press, in our catalogue here.
Remembering My Father-in-law
Fabiyas M V
His life spreads over the two continents—
the Twentieth and the Twenty-first—
on the time map.
The capital of his attitude with its cultural
virtues is located in the last century.
He’s a repairer,
bold and burly, who always tries to screw
the loose nuts of the new generation.
When the teens call
an ugly red-lipped batfish ‘Beautiful!’
he corrects them, pointing at
a pearl-spot fish.
He preserves the familial juice within his
coconut shell. Like a beachcomber,
he walks down
his memory lane. Undaunted by the abnormal
cardiac rhythms, he saunters along
the serene way
through the heart of nature. He’ll no longer
log in a new day. A loss has
many reflections.
​
About the Author
​
Fabiyas M V is a writer, poet and teacher from Orumanayur village in Kerala, India.
​
You can find Stringless Lives, his collection of short stories, here.
The Storm Inside
Bethet
these shadows are
not real
the raging storm is
my imagination
in all my sadness
​
missing you beside me at night
I’m only cold inside
I Sea I Love You
Soraya Schulz
Into the sea
Into the deep
Oh my sweet ocean, won’t you love me?
Are you mine to keep?
​
About the Author
​
Soraya Schulz is a poet, writer and artist. She published her first poetry collection at the age of fourteen. She is the author of several poetry collections including Heart of Hearing and Being. Her novel The Other Detectives is currently being adapted into a visual novel by Studio Arno. She lives in Australia but dreams of travelling the world.
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Word Search
Native Animals #1
Can you find these words?
Bat, Brolga, Chat, Chough, Coot, Corella, Curlew, Dingo, Echidna, Eel, Emu, Galah, Goanna, Ibis, Joey, Kea, Kiwi, Koala, Lapwing, Lark, Magpie, Miner, Moa, Owl, Parrot, Pelican, Penguin, Possum, Potoroo, Quokka, Roo, Rosella, Skink, Snake, Tui, Wagtail, Wallaby, Wombat, Worm
Native Animals #2
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Ant, Bee, Bilby, Bird, Boobook, Booby, Bug, Catfish, Cray, Crow, Devil, Duck, Eagle, Gannet, Grub, Gull, Heron, Jaeger, Lizard, Loon, Moth, Mussel, Noddy, Oyster, Petrel, Prion, Puggle, Rakali, Raven, Skua, Slug, Sparrow, Spider, Swallow, Tern, Woodhen, Wren, Yabby
