Poetry

The sound of heat, a roar like a sawmill hungry for wood that day, that forty-five degree day. From the everyday routine of milking the cows, and the excitement of children learning the rules of the rodeo; to the tragedy of drought and the terror of the Black Saturday bushfires - snapshots of rural Australia are brought to life in this new collection by award-winning poet, Lorraine Marwood.

Dee lives for two things: the physical/mental discipline of parkour, and the dystopic scenarios he invents to escape his mundane life.

He knows the city better than anyone – the hidden spaces at night, the views that no one else sees, from heights no one else can scale. With parkour, he's not running away. He's just free.

But when he's caught up in a frightening conspiracy and the boundaries between fantasy and reality break down, he'll have to run for his life. Run for real. Because just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Jack

Room 204—Miss Stretchberry

February 25

Today the fat black cat
up in the tree by the bus stop
dropped a nut on my head
thunk
and when I yelled at it
that fat black cat said
Murr-mee-urrr
in a 
nasty
spiteful
way.

I hate that cat.

This is the story of 
Jack
words
sounds
silence
teacher
and cat.

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to centre stage of her own life - and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, with a nearly magical grin. One boy takes Lennie out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it.