shot glass
title
Issue # 8 September 2012
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Bio


Melbourne poet, Jennifer Chrystie has published her work in The Weekend Australian, Blue Dog, Cordite and The Quadrant Book of Poetry 2001-2010 amongst others. Her first book of poetry, "Polishing the Silver", was published in 2006 by Ginninderra Press and commended in the Fellowship of Australian Writers Anne Elder Award.


Jennifer Chrystie


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The Rhine

Barges full of sand and mystery
plough the Rhine
past pylons of old bridges
bombed into forgetfulness

Our boat glides over pewter furrows
to wait imprisoned in the dark lock
Water rising notch by notch
steps us upriver

Vineyards in serried rows
slope to ruined castles
where barons lurked to rob small craft
or lock the crews in island dungeons

Shorn of their gold, many succumbed
to the honeyed song of the Lorelei
combing her golden hair
on the shipwrecking rocks