1 Poem by Jan Napier

in wing mirrors

I rediscover a friend’s sketch behind dusty books.
pencil lines are fading now, but graphite and deft fingers
have snared the thylacine her husband sighted when driving
back from margaret river after moonset that nineties night.

incredible, he said. no camera in the car of course.
animal standing striped and side on by the highway
staring and staring into whiteblinding of high beams,
 
then past. in wing mirrors, wind and rushing darkness.
wife adrift, chin to chest, denied seconds precious
with presence. and she the one who believed.


Bionote

Jan Napier is a Western Australian writer. Her work has been showcased in journals and anthologies both within Australia and overseas. Her villanelle Wiltshire 1840 won the Society of Women Writer’s Poetry prize in 2022. Jan’s poem Body and Soul placed second in the Katherine Susannah Pritchard poetry prize in 2022.