there’s talk they could bring you back

science needs forgiveness

like the rest of us

hind stripes the board

to their noughts and crosses

wipe the chalk off

careful little friend

resurrection in genes

may lose your husky tones

flat jaw lines no longer fashionable

those teeth still too sharp

need a little refinement

stay behind the scenes of astronomy in theatre

wave the air between the look

up and down at the hint in glimpse

filtered rainbow along your spine

old films have shadows

that make regret pungent

James Walton is published in many anthologies, journals, and newspapers. He has been shortlisted for the ACU National Poetry Prize, the MPU International Poetry Prize, The James Tate Prize, and the Ada Cambridge Prize. Five collections of his poetry have been published. He was nominated for ‘The Best of the Net’ 2019, and was a Pushcart Prize 2021 nominee. He is a winner of the Raw Art Review Chapbook Prize. His fifth poetry collection, Snail Mail Cursive, in which Thy la cine appeared, was published by Ginninderra Press in January 2023. Having spent a great part of his life in the Strzelecki ranges, the part of Tasmania which didn’t break away from the mainland, James Walton now lives in Wonthaggi in an Edwardian house which was once a small maternity hospital.