Melbourne, April 2020. A poem by Amanda Anastasi

Rush hour is a wide path where the trill
of gathered birds seems almost tripled.

Their harmonies clarify in a new air,
once shrouded by the blare and haze

of fitful cars. Walking alone and open
eyed, my unhurried steps resound.

I hear the click of a door close and the high
tones and tumble of children behind walls

and brimming windows; a leaf scraping
the ground on the phrase end of a breeze;

a church bell, the hinge of a courier’s door,
an aromatic note from a baker’s shop oven.

Passers-by meet me in the eye exactly
and I partly desire there be no return.

………………………….

Amanda Anastasi is a Melbourne poet whose work has been published as locally as Windsor’s Artist Lane walls to The Massachusetts Review. She is currently Poet in Residence at the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub, where she is writing poetry to raise awareness on ecological issues and the climate crisis.
Website: https://www.amandaanastasipoetry.com