Rosa O'Kane grew up in Northern Ireland and lives in Canberra, Australia.

Her poem "Hydrography of the Heart" is included in the 2014 Hippocrates Poetry and Medicine Anthology.

"Birthday Txt" was a winning entry in the 2013 Poetry in ACTION Initiative.

Her dream is to win a bursary to allow her to write poetry, uninterrupted for 2 weeks.

Rosa O'Kane

---

 

Biology Lab

The only science experiment I remember
to hold the hypothesis
was the one where we blacken three walls of a terrarium
plant seeds in dark peat in the base and wait.
At first the slender seedlings seem straight.
Then as we watch over hours and days
the stems bend
bow their tender heads
in homage to the light.

Decades trip past
punctuated by benchmarks, deadlines
before I begin to know
the stroke of the brush, sides slaked with black
and grow with the phototropic slope
the hope of poetry.