Size / / /

The sky is moon, pushes and pulls the sea
within. Eclipsed by something like desire,
she slips into her red identity,
a basket tucked beneath. She weave-walks, parts
the brambled path towards the forest’s heart,
her steps persistent like a chant. Entranced,
she harvests sweet-sour fruit under the moon’s
regard, and teeth-pierces each orb. The juice
sluices a blood-warm trail. A shameless spillage
or sharp portrayal? Either way, it lures
the wolves from layered lairs. She sees herself
reflected in their umbral eyes—a pack
of little selves. Her only way across:
disrobe in night’s cold maw, and smell each wolf.



Lesh Karan is a former pharmacist turned poet and writer. Her recent publications include Best of Australian Poems 2022, Cordite, Island, Mascara, Overland, and Rabbit. In 2023, she was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, and she is currently completing a master’s in creative writing. Lesh is of Fiji Indian heritage and lives in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. leshkaran.com
Current Issue
29 Apr 2024

The Lightning Road cuts far across the Cosmos, a streak of dazzling gold amidst the star-studded void.
daily you suppress it and ride the shame / like a surfer rides a monster wave,
somersaulting in continuous turns
two wolves lope / behind the Atlantic
The thing is; I don’t set out to write neurodivergent characters. I write people – fictional people who are drawn from the people around me, the way I experience the world, and my understanding of these experiences. Too bad if other people refuse to afford my experiences as being real or relatable.
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