-Gaynor Kane – The Wolf and The Witness Tree

-John Phandal Law

-Anjum Wasim Dar – Gold

Witness

,Old ship in a storm is a witness tree,
a witness wolf, oldest war survivor.
A ship splintered by live artillery.
Broken by blast, spattered with blood and gore.

Leafless, but not lifeless it watches all.
Seals off its open wounds, encases hurt,
new grows around it, a barrier wall.
Leaf is this ship’s sail, howls in the dirt.

Gradually it spreads it’s crown outwards,
a wolf tree, oldest among fresh young. Home
and shelter to many, in barkskin words.
Testimony to resilient bone.

What survives writes history and tells
through marks a refugee without travel.