Birds you Dream About by Davina Allison

For my year 12 English class, 2022. Clever bunch.

Your boat’s moored,

keel up,

and a basin that I worked with my hands

so you can bathe, watch birds there.

Silk Market

Those lilacs

on the cutting table where you measure silk

with birds

following a river

and the lemons that you walked through

a rainstorm for

and our garden

where steps go down to the sea.

Davina Allison’s work has appeared in a range of literary journals, including the Australian Book Review, the London Magazine, Wild Court King’s College London, The Well Review, The Glasgow Review of Books, The Lampeter Review, The Galway Review, the Australian Poetry Journal, and Poetry Scotland. Her work has also been shortlisted for the Australian Catholic University Literature Prize and the Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize. She has a Classics degree, two master’s degrees (one with Honours), and a DPhil in academic syntax.