a past
that never happened
nowhere girl

The only resting space I can provide 
is in this little plot. The priest is kind. 
Overhead he makes the sacred sign 
to intercede for He who reigns on high. 
Quietly, I hold you one last time 
beside the earthen cradle where you lie 
one day after birth, light as a sigh. 
My tiny bird! You’ve fallen from the sky. 

White stones will grace your plot. I dab my eyes 
with kerchief, for I’m granted but a while, 
box gums standing silent at your side 
a gravel quilt to keep you warm and dry. 
The woman in the big house, walking by 
this quiet place won’t stop to wonder why. 

midnight watch
over two resting places
endless eyes

Hazel Hall

is a widely published Canberra poet and musicologist who enjoys collaborating with other artists. She founded and coordinated the ekphrastic poetry group School of Music Poets from 2012 to 2017 and directed the Poetry at Manning Clark House readings series from 2018 to 2022. Her writing ranges from short Japanese styles to free verse and prose poetry. In 2023 she judged her third international tanka competition and won Second Prize in the John Bird Dreaming Award for haiku.

Hazel’s recent collections include Step By Step: Tai Chi Meditations (Picaro Poets, 2018); Moonlight over the Siding (Interactive Press, 2019); Severed Web (Picaro Poets, 2020); a verse play for radio, Please Add Your Signature and Date it Here (Litoria Press, 2021); and Breathe In, Breathe Out (Picaro Poets, 2023). Her collection A Hint of Rosemary is forthcoming in 2024.

Hazel holds a PhD from Monash University. See a sample of her work at: https://vimeo.com/538941444

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ The Miner’s Wife, sonka (sonnet + tanka) by Hazel Hall in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 21, January 2024)

⚡ A Question of Faith, tanka prose poem by Hazel Hall which also includes a pair of senryu and a cherita variation; MacQ publisher Clare MacQueen dubbed the piece “a heavenly hybrid” and selected it as one of eight Finalists in “The Question of Questions” Ekphrastic Writing Challenge in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 15, September 2022)

⚡ See Index of Contributors for half-a-dozen additional hybrid poems by Hazel Hall in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issues 12, 15, and 17).