Pedder Galaxias Pantoum – by Toby Fitch

Poetry
Written By Toby Fitch
ISLAND | ONLINE ONLY

Locked in your Lutruwita lake

Surrounded by sandy white beach

In search of invertebrates

Your galactic fins flit through tannins

Surrounded by sandy white beach

Green-brown skin like water

Your galactic fins flit through tannins

Around rocks, up tributaries

Green-brown skin as water

Heavily shaded, highly convoluted

In this rocky tribute

You plummet to the depths

Heavily shaded, highly convoluted

Among debris and vegetation

Who wouldn’t plummet to such depths

Head-long, strongly depressed

Among debris and agitation

Sky-hit by iridescence

Head-long, strongly depressed

Introduced trout just keep coming

Sky-hit by iridescence

In search of invertebrates

Introduced trout just keep coming

Locked in that Lutruwita lake

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Image: Steve Johnson - Pexels

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Toby Fitch

Toby Fitch (he/they) is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Sydney, and the author of nine books of poetry, including Sydney Spleen (2021) and the forthcoming Or: An Autobiography (Upswell Publishing 2026). He is currently writing a book called Endlings. He lives on unceded Gadigal land with his partner, their three children and a staffy.

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