In my hands, a torn paper landscape of autumn colors: rust, navy, vermillion, verdigris. The dark background renders more contrast with salt where it blooms in pools. Scatter it for texture or sadness: a watery lake and sky melt together. See the strong attraction between molecules? Think of the times there were stars, sparks of tiny lights, snow, rain, intense pigments circling. Wait. Rub the salt from the surface of the paper (and your eyes), watching the day’s tincture shift: you always chose dramatic contrasts. See tenderness in the fading light past the windows.

paper dimpling 

like skin beneath clouds 
of your own making 

they are drying 
the pattern will not 
break up 

—Long-listed Finalist in MacQ’s Cheribun Challenge #3

Jane Frank

is an award-winning Brisbane poet, editor, and academic. Her most recent poetry collection, Ghosts Struggle to Swim, was published by Calanthe Press (Queensland, Australia) in May 2023, and a new collection—Gardening on Mars—will be published by Shearsman Books (Oxfordshire, England) in October 2025. Her work regularly appears in journals and anthologies in both Australia and internationally, most recently in 100 Poets, edited by Brian Purcell and Kit Kelen (Flying Islands, Australia, 2025), and The Memory Palace, edited by Lorette C. Luzajic and Clare MacQueen (Ekphrastic Editions, Canada, 2024).

Dr. Frank runs writing workshops, has appeared in a number of poetry podcasts, is Reviews Editor for StylusLit (an Australian online literary journal published bi-annually), and teaches at the University of the Sunshine Coast in south east Queensland.

Author’s website: https://janefrankpoetry.wordpress.com/about/