Matt Hetherington is a writer, music-maker, and very average gardener living on Bundjalung Country in Murwillumbah, NSW. He has been writing poetry for 45 years now, and his seventh collection, About Alone Away, was published by Walleah Press in December 2024. He was also Co-editor of the Australian section of the first World Haiku Anthology, and Online Editor of the Spoken Word ‘Performance Documentary’ Straight from the Tank. Current Inspirations are: the poet-standard black coffee, vinyl played very loud through small dark speakers, and slowing down the ol’ breath when needed.
granted: i married a jackal
and should have known it
but love could be a mirror from above
and you should have seen her—
sharp as an 80s kick, shiny and new
and flat like a package you would send
yourself in a dream—anyway it’s not blind
but deaf—just try to notice as it crashes on your head
and lacerates your sense of sense
so the light membrane of each dum-dum can’t tell you
what rights get left behind in all your lustrous nights
yes, i sang myself into her tomb, and
no, i was wrong: my bride was a hyena
