Tag: poetry

Q-Lit Festival and new poem in Meanjin!

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I’m thrilled to be part of Q-Lit Festival’s Opening Gala on 20 June in Naarm (Melbourne).

More info and tickets for Q-Lit Festival.

About the Opening Gala

A gala of queer words, voices, and stories.

One magnificent night of the stories we tell, the songs we sing and our thoughts that are changing the world. Featuring a range of writers, performers and presenters, responding to the festival’s theme of
”What fills your cup?”

Hosted by Bebe Oliver.

Featuring Dean Arcuri, Tiger Salmon, Urvi Majumdar, Claire G. Coleman, Wallis Prophet, Noah Riseman, Lili Wilkinson, Rae White and Ed Moon

My poem ‘Hot Wheels’ is in the latest Meanjin! 

Shout out to Echoes from the Cave Inn, the most queer nourishing magical open mic, where this poem was first born.

Grab a copy on the Meanjin website.

An image of the Autumn 2025 issue of Meanjin (Vol 84, No 1). The cover mimics the interface of an iPhone Notes app in dark mode. It lists six bullet-pointed phrases: ‘The work of desire,’ ‘The work of identity,’ ‘The work of standing still,’ ‘The work of giving life,’ ‘The work of telling truth,’ and ‘The work of making a home.’ The design uses yellow and white text on a black background, with the Meanjin logo at the top in gold.

About Meanjin 84.1 Autumn 2025

Energy and life and the body. Disappointment and passion and pride. The inexorable labour of working toward the just. The work of desire, the work of identity, the work of standing still. The work of giving life, the work of telling truth, the work of making a home.

This season, Meanjin’s writers are calling us to account.

What are we gambling with when we settle for what’s merely adequate? What have we already sacrificed the moment we come to realise what’s at stake? What is the price of the just?

Embrace Australia’s finest writers. Meanjin 84.1 Autumn 2025.

Photo of a copy of Denizen’s Digest, with a black and white Expo cover, and a creepy zine pin, on a glittery background.

New poem in Denizen’s Digest!

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My new poem ‘We’ll show the world’ is out now in Denizen’s Digest – Issue 3: Expo 2088!

As an Expo ‘88 enthusiast, I was super excited to have my poem chosen to be part of this excellent local zine. 

Grab yourself a copy!

Photo of a copy of Denizen’s Digest, with a black and white Expo cover, and a creepy zine pin, on a glittery background.

The Denizen’s Digest – a weird anthology by the Brisbane bizarre. The digest is a 60 page journey through locally created genre fiction, poetry, creative non-fic and more. 

Curated by Netherworld denizens Tim Sifontes-Holzberger and Mitch Wilkins, the third-issue’s theme is ‘Expo 2088.’

Photo of the first stanzas of the poem ‘We’ll show the world’ featured in Denizen’s Digest. The text reads ‘WE'LL SHOW THE WORLD BY RAE WHITE. Self-drive dodgems cruise through Brissie's sunny sky. Marching band kangaroos levitate above rivers' glinting mock-blue surface. 1988's pink sub memorialised as pink mega-drone loop-the-looping over whooping crowds. Jacarandas luminous like stars their purple petals bred to mimic fireflies. Yellow-clad robot hostesses roam the teeming grounds, demeanour more cop than cooperative.’
Photo of Rabbit: a journal for nonfiction poetry, Issue 40 titled ‘Extinction,’ placed on a green and cream floral-patterned fabric. The cover of the journal has a dark maroon border, with the central artwork depicting a textured, moss-covered koala with a baby on its back, with smoke rising from its body.

‘welcome to all this’ in Rabbit Poetry Journal

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Thrilled to have a new poem ‘welcome to all this’ in Rabbit Poetry Journal #40 Extinction. Much love and appreciation for editors Jessica L. Wilkinson, Elena Gomez and aj carruthers. 

Photo of Rabbit: a journal for nonfiction poetry, Issue 40 titled ‘Extinction,’ placed on a green and cream floral-patterned fabric. The cover of the journal has a dark maroon border, with the central artwork depicting a textured, moss-covered koala with a baby on its back, with smoke rising from its body.

As I write this a scrub turkey is scratching through the leaves outside my bedroom window and a lorikeet is yelling from a palm tree.

Photo of a white page with text that reads: ‘Rae White - welcome to all this.’
Photo of a white page with text of a poem that reads: ‘welcome swallows skim rooftop lap pool for chlorine-garnished mosquitos / I am workaday coffee grind guardian gnome / white herons watch wait cast angular shadows over bootleg fishing nets / I am city smoke burnout guerrilla gardener / currawong calls reverberate off stark robot high-rises as dusk draws near / I am unceasing howling wheat-paste protester / I watch the symmetrical sky-dance of beak-heavy pelicans reflected on river's mirror / I refuse to say goodbye to all this’

As I write this, Rabbit are waiting to hear back about vital funding. If you haven’t already please consider subscribing to Rabbit and/or buying some of their brilliant poetry collections.

Photo of a white page with text that reads: ‘So, I am wondering about how poetry might—if not evoke direct action-actually ignite the passion for action. Poetry as part of the resistance ecology. Rabbit itself stands on the precipice of extinction as we await vital funding news from government support. With institutional support largely dried up due to ongoing post-COVID cut-backs, we will at the very least revise our publications plan going forward. Of course, many Australian literary journals are similarly feeling the pinch. But I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our section and guest editors over the years. For this issue, I would particularly like to thank the guest poetry editors-Elena Gomez and aj carruthers—for their thoughtful selection and curation of 'extinction' poems, and for their dedication to the poetics of resistance. I also thank Jeanine Leane for curating a First Nations section from the 'Us Mob' writing group. I offer the deepest thanks to Tracy O'Shaughnessy for her indefatigable work as Rabbit's publications manager—we would not have survived this long without you. And finally, thank you to all our readers, our subscribers, our supporters, for meeting these pages with much enthusiasm and excitement. We hope to continue hopping in the near future.’

(Excerpt from Jessica L. Wilkinson’s editorial.)

Black-and-white artwork of a dense greenhouse filled with leafy plants. Overlaid on the scene is a geometric framework of translucent rectangular shapes, creating a layered, architectural effect that contrasts with the foliage.

Ekphrastic poem in Antipodes!

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I have a new poem in Antipodes: A Global Journal of Australian/New Zealand Literature | Vol 36 | Iss 2.

‘A robot discovers an overgrown garden, year 2121’ is an ekphrastic poem I wrote after Jane Grealy’s Maria’s Garden, Scheme B (2021); pastel, conte and charcoal on paper; Museum of Brisbane Collection.

Thank you to poetry editor Nathanael OʻReilly and the team at Antipodes. And to my Ekphrastic Writing Club at Museum of Brisbane.

Black-and-white artwork of a dense greenhouse filled with leafy plants. Overlaid on the scene is a geometric framework of translucent rectangular shapes, creating a layered, architectural effect that contrasts with the foliage.
A page from the catalog featuring Lincoln Austin’s ‘ I saw myself, in you, wondering, how did I get here’ - Winner of the 'Art for Life' Award. This is a colourful abstract piece with horizontal stripes in pastel shades and wavy lines. Mediums include synthetic polymer paint on aluminium. Photographed by Carl Warner, 2023.

Queensland Regional Art Awards Ekphrasis project

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I was honoured to be commissioned for this year’s Queensland Regional Art Awards Ekphrasis project by award-winning writer Cheryl Leavy, as part of Flying Arts Alliance’s touring exhibition, Perspective.

Commissioned poets include Stuart Barnes, Otis Carmichael, Cheryl Leavy, Steven Oliver and myself.

Check out the full catalogue for Perspective.

My poem ‘Distorted rainbows’ responds to Lincoln Austin’s ‘ I saw myself, in you, wondering, how did I get here’ – Winner of the ‘Art for Life’ Award. And my poem ‘Pixel-printed’ responds to Michelle Le Plastrier’s ‘Food-O-Matic + Pixel Printed Food’ – Winner of the Environmental Art Award.

A page from the catalog featuring Lincoln Austin’s ‘ I saw myself, in you, wondering, how did I get here’ - Winner of the 'Art for Life' Award. This is a colourful abstract piece with horizontal stripes in pastel shades and wavy lines. Mediums include synthetic polymer paint on aluminium. Photographed by Carl Warner, 2023.
A page from the catalog featuring the artist statement by Lincoln Austin for the piece ‘ I saw myself, in you, wondering, how did I get here’, alongside Rae White's ekphrasis poem titled ‘Distorted rainbows’. Lincoln’s statement invites viewers to experience empathy by presenting a distorted image that changes based on perspective, symbolising the varied views we have of the same reality. While Rae’s poem reflects on love, identity, and self-perception, through the exploration of grief and queerness. DISTORTED RAINBOWS 8am sunlight unearths glint of ancient Mari Gras glitter on carpet & distorts our mirror to rainbows. I witness: my bent legs, our sunset-peach sheets, the codependent topography of us. Once, when others looked at me & saw only double. you looked at me & saw: wonder, gendermess, shapeshifter. Were you empathetic to the point of self-extinction? The age-old bisexual dilemma: to be or do? Today, I admire you in mirror's glared morning & see only myself. The age-old heart-sick lament: grief-mirage or memoria?

Photograph of Michelle Le Plastrier's artwork, winner of the Environmental Art Award, titled "FOOD-O-MATIC + PIXEL PRINTED FOOD." The piece features circular ceramic plates, each painted with pixelated food items like a burger, hot dog, and fries, displayed in a row against a white wall. Mediums include ceramics, underglaze, glaze, and porcelain paint. Photographed by Kierra Thorn in Southport, 2023.
A page from the catalog featuring the artist statement by Michelle Le Plastrier for the piece "FOOD-O-MATIC," alongside Rae White's ekphrasis poem titled "PIXEL-PRINTED." Michelle’s statement discusses a retrofuturistic view on technology, consumerism, and environmental issues, while Rae’s poem reflects on food production and environmental degradation in the year 2080. PIXEL-PRINTED The year 2080. Introducing the 3D printed FOOD-O-MATIC- O-QUICK-FIX! Oh FASTTRACK! Oh the pixel-printed wealth of landfill and landowners: steak leaks river red; resuscitated broccolini in butter butter butter: the extinct giraffe wilt of asparagus. The year 2085. On smog-crowded streets microplastics curdle in the sleeping bag of your stomach.

The QRAA Ekphrasis project features work from poets who have lived and worked in urban, rural, regional and remote settings; work reflecting First Nations and LGBTQI+ communities; working artists and writers; published and unpublished writers; and poets who are emerging and well established.

Check out the full catalogue for Perspective.

Red Dirt Poetry Festival 2024 program announcement. The event dates are August 21-25, 2024. The text '2024 Program NOW LIVE!' is prominently displayed along with the website reddirtpoetryfestival.com. The image features a red and black colour scheme with the festival's logo in the top right corner.

Red Dirt Poetry Festival 2024!

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Get ready for an unforgettable experience at Red Dirt Poetry Festival 21-25 August in Mparntwe (Alice Springs)!

Join me for Moonrise Poetry, a Zine Making Workshop, and Late Night Love Inn.

Grab your tickets!

Red Dirt Poetry Festival 2024 program announcement. The event dates are August 21-25, 2024. The text '2024 Program NOW LIVE!' is prominently displayed along with the website reddirtpoetryfestival.com. The image features a red and black colour scheme with the festival's logo in the top right corner.

Check out the full Red Dirt Poetry Festival Program.

Moonrise Poetry
Date: 21 August
Time: 6.30-9pm
Location: Earth Sanctuary

Zine Making Workshop
Date: 25 August
Time: 12.30-1.30pm
Location: The Roastery Cafe

Late Night Love Inn
Date: 25 August
Time: 9.15-11pm
Location: Araluen Arts Centre

Featuring at Red Dirt Poetry Festival 2024: 1. Moonrise Poetry - Date: August 21, 2024 - Time: 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm - Location: Earth Sanctuary - Image: A full moon rising over a dark landscape. 2. Zine Making Workshop - Date: August 25, 2024 - Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - Location: The Roastery Cafe - Image: A collage-style graphic with various elements including an eye and computer. 3. Late Night Love Inn - Date: August 25, 2024 - Time: 9:15 pm - 11:00 pm - Location: Araluen Arts Centre - Image: A pink background with a yellow peach sliced open.