By: Elysia

Leave it there, my love,
Lest you disturb far more
Than dust and bones
And corpses of flies
Who withered in the attic there
During long, hot summers
When the room’s dead air
Was still and thick,
Yet safe.

Leave it there, my love,
Lest you lie in bed
Awake at night
Scared and alone
As her voice wails high
Through the summer air
Long after dark, and dry
Creaking wings beat
The night.

Leave it there, my love,
Lest I wake in the morning
And find you gone,
Switched for a changeling
Of grass and straw
And though I’ll weep
I will see you no more.

Leave it there,
My love.

Concealed shoes: Australian settlers and an old superstition

By: Elysia

Dig, dig, scrape, dig, dig.

Bark, bark, bark, BARK. Bark. Bark. Bark.

“Bugger.” (In Spanish.)

Paraguay: Stray dog’s barking foils prison break

By Elysia

A silence in the corridors,
A silence in the halls.
Then: whispering masses out of sight,
Out beyond the walls.

A low thrum of humming
Echoes from the lawn,
Ever getting louder:
The battleline is drawn.

The songs are almost deafening now,
The walls begin to crack.
Finally they start to see:
They are not turning back.

Gold-encrusted mannequins
Are shaken and they’re stirred:
Power to the people,
Voices must be heard.

It’s been a while since we introduced a new blog or series of regular musings for all you ShiverWrigglers, so here you are: fresh off the farm (or perhaps out of the oven), Elysia will be serving up a tasty morsel for you each Friday (usually) on the subject of the week’s news. A headline here, an apology there, a half-forgotten addendum somewhere else: the inspiration might come from anywhere within the documented press and could take any form. Well, any form of poetry that is.

Yes, that’s right. Today’s times in rhymes. Yesterday’s news in haiku. And, because clearly not all poetry rhymes (and also because we can’t think of any more rhyming examples off the top of our heads but think three examples would be quite neat and tidy), last week’s headlines in sonnet form.

Check back later this week for the first from Our Girl on the Outside.