Kristen de Kline
doesn’t happen like they said it should my daughter it’s been seven and a half years twenty-three days and seventeen minutes since we talked two babies have entered your world a few changes of addresses we can’t keep track of I’ve fallen down spiral stairs woken up blurry and biting in a safe house out the back of No Town I wrap my Yeti dressing gown around my chest smoke Winnie Blues crank up the volume on Roy Orbison and crush stubs into my palms when I got the call I was on the number 67 tram to St Kilda order a triple shot at Southern Cross watch fantails nibble at French fries shaped like semi-colons Danish pastries flail about like dead fish my body off the hook when I got the call my son said: did you think you’d be welcomed save your breath save your tears you weren’t there when it mattered the moment of shared grief we’ve edited you out
Kristen de Kline writes poetry by night and lectures Criminology by day. Their poetry appears in a range of publications including Backstory, Other Terrain, Burrow, Admissions, Shoot the Breeze, Pink Cover Zine, Australian Poetry Collaboration, Press: 100 Love Letters, Guide to Sydney Crime, Sappho Flows, Hermes, Have Your Chill and Project 365+1. Kristen’s debut collection Lawless was published by Girls on Key in 2021.
Old Water Rat Publishing 