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Sagar Nair 20/7/26 Sagar Nair 20/7/26

Venus flytrap – by Sagar Nair

One day, I got an anonymous comment on my blog: ‘Are Venus flytraps your entire personality?’ It was on a picture of me at the beach, wearing a Venus-flytrap-themed swimsuit, holding my Venus flytrap up to the sun like an offering to God.

Madison Hovey 20/7/26 Madison Hovey 20/7/26

Monday, period 2 – by Madison Hovey

The screams don’t seem to bother
anyone—but we all hear them—fuzzy
and uneven through the speakers of a
school laptop on loan.

Sophia Krause 20/7/26 Sophia Krause 20/7/26

Salon assistant – by Sophia Krause

I scrub dandruff, blonde-bleach and artificial brunettes off hundreds of scalps,

each shampoo and conditioner wash molts skin layers off my hands.

Bridget Webster 20/7/26 Bridget Webster 20/7/26

To let my outline thin – by Bridget Webster

It was my first writing residency. A lot of interesting things happened. I felt the range of my emotions widen – the grief and terror deeper than I let myself feel in the city before scrambling for distraction, the bliss and contentment more whole and suffusing.

Miriam Jones 16/7/26 Miriam Jones 16/7/26

The pool as public luxury - by Miriam Jones

Once, after swimming while pregnant, a man said to me: I glanced over in the lane and couldn’t help but notice you are with child! How wonderful! Have you considered a water birth?

Rachel Leary 16/7/26 Rachel Leary 16/7/26

Savings - by Rachel Leary

I watch her and I want to tell her she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. I’ve felt this way about her for a long time. It’s not desire. I don’t know if this is normal, but some humans elicit this in me: I find them so damn beautiful I don’t know what to do with myself.

John Britten 16/7/26 John Britten 16/7/26

Yes, ghosts – by John Britten

Laid him silently

near the cabbage tree—

Alex Sutcliffe 16/7/26 Alex Sutcliffe 16/7/26

The referee – by Alex Sutcliffe

Like everyone, I began my career

in the back of my mother’s car

in tears.

Matthew Green 26/6/26 Matthew Green 26/6/26

Oval – by Matthew Green

Bobby gave a thigh a squeeze, reached toward the glovebox and popped it open. It hinged violently. He rummaged through the junk inside and pulled out a torch.

Brooke Dunnell 26/6/26 Brooke Dunnell 26/6/26

You can make the whole trip that way – by Brooke Dunnell

Kay keeps her foot on the accelerator. She’s doing the speed limit and her alignment is straight. The alcohol on her breath has been absorbed by the gum that’s now a plastic disc in the pocket of her cheek.

Emma Ashmere 26/6/26 Emma Ashmere 26/6/26

Unconfirmed – by Emma Ashmere

She’s never been a dress wearer but says all right I will, if you promise to buy me a new dress. And shoes. Not hand-me-downs. Or home-made. The dress I mean. And I hate white. And it has to be dye-able. She’s dyed things before. Overalls. Her (half)brother’s old singlet. Her mother’s glory-days fake pearl-buttoned gloves. Tried and failed to paint brown shoes black. Left stains on the laundry lino in the shape of something haloed according to her mother. A money-spinner her (step)father said. No a miracle said her mother so we can’t mop or sweep the floor again.

Henry Chase Richards 21/5/26 Henry Chase Richards 21/5/26

Emerald City – by Henry Chase Richards

I never thought I’d move back here. In my mind, the people were too stuck up and the public transport too bad and I had too many other more important places to be.

Erica Williams 21/5/26 Erica Williams 21/5/26

Fortune-Cookie-Industrial Complex – by Erica Williams

And I want to throw the stone I am holding right at his head

Not to injure him but

Just to crack the glass pane of power that separates us

Jenni Mazaraki 21/5/26 Jenni Mazaraki 21/5/26

The hold down – by Jenni Mazaraki

Something has taken you the twelve seconds are up. Her body near yours forever she’s reaching but your body has given itself over and under you are nothing and everything you are her daughter and no one’s you are older than you …