Live Encounters Poetry & Writing July 2026
Recognisable, poems by Paul Williamson.
Recognisable
Sitting in a café in Sydney I wonder
how much Kenneth Slessor would recognise
of his city with its smoky pubs;
the city where he endured the poet’s testing gift
the search for the right word.
Solid old buildings remain in sandstone or red brick
some with Chinese characters on their fronts.
Jammed between them newer buildings advertise.
George Street is closed to traffic for light rail.
Passengers stand and check their smart phones.
China Town with Paddy’s Market
leads towards Circular Quay.
Feral pigeons mill around for scraps.
Electric scooters dodge pedestrians.
A silver gull sails down the brick canyon
past the Queen Victoria Building to where parks
with vagrant ibises overlook the Harbour.
The homeless with wary faces that hint
of damage thread through crowds
to sleep in railway station entrances.
Ferries ply, still green and cream
though most now are catamarans.
The bells we hear are from the cathedral
drifting over cloudy green Harbour waters.
Different Truths
Industries reap as they lobby politicians
to allow more coal mining, produce more gas
clear forests for gain, expand by burning fossil fuels
boosting short-term profits
that swell company stocks.
Other voices call for change
to stop climate’s rapid heating
bush fires, fiercer heat, storms and floods
ice melts that drown coasts.
People wave signs outside parliaments
so car horns call to save the planet.
Others paddle kayaks to try to hinder coal ships
leaving port with cargos of greenhouse gases.
Our children watch the natural
world drift away
in a man-made mass extinction.
Following the Glow
Trekking after weeks at sea
we trudge through the strongest Sub Antarctic blizzard
the island has seen in decades.
Inside the whiteout a skua gull
of indeterminate size stands on snow.
The last day-glow orange peg has passed from sight.
There should be another along the track.
The next peg appears.
We trudge ten miles in ten hours
guided by trust to the field hut.
Trekking now through daunting years
we try to keep a steady footing
as blinking glows of opportunity
people, ideals and faith
show the direction to the future.
© Paul Williamson
Paul Williamson is an Australian poet who now lives in Canberra. His recent collections are Edge of Southern Bright, A Hint of Eden, and Along the Forest Corridor, published by Ginninderra Press. His background is in Geoscience.