I received this beautiful certificate from the Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia congratulating me on winning Commended in the 2025 Tom Collins Poetry Prize for my poem “Life Can”. Many thanks to Susan Cullen, President FAW WA.
“Life Can” is one of the pieces in my new collection “The Rub of Urban Life” to be published by Five Islands Press in 2027.
Happy daze.
Your silence
is a closed door.
Some people
would kiss a house full of frogs
rather than knock to come in.
When a parakeet sits quietly
twittering to himself
or grinding his beak,
he is happy and content.
A parakeet does not like
living alone though,
does not thrive if he is.
What about you?
Or could we move to
a different room,
one in which the door is left open,
perhaps?
Copyright Libby Sommer 2025
Sydney’s Libby Sommer worked in film and TV production at ABC Television for some years prior to starting her own public relations business. Her poetry, short stories and non-fiction have appeared in literary journals and other publications in Australia and overseas. She is also the author of a number of poetry collections, and novels. More about Libby and her writing can be found at her website, and her appearance in last week’s Poet’s Corner can be read here.
I’m over-the-moon delighted that 5 Islands Press has selected my new manuscript titled “The Rub of Urban Life” for publication in 2026/2027.
“The Rub of Urban Life” is a collection of my poetry, poetic prose, and candid black & white street photographs. A blend of words and images.
A big thank you and much gratitude to publishers, Mark Tredinnick and Steve Meyrick.
Some very good news: I have a half page prose poem “You Remember” in this month’s October Quadrant Magazine. It’s always a big thrill to see my name up there. Thanks, as always, to Literary Editor Professor Barry Spurr.
Have a read of my poem ‘Bewildered’, first published in Quadrant Magazine and one of the poems in my collection, ‘Flat White, One Sugar‘ (Ginninderra Press). The book is illustrated by my granddaughter, Natasha Sommer, a graduate of the National Art School.
I hope you enjoy it.
Bewildered:
When I was four
I asked my big brother
Is mum the wicked
queen from Snow White?
He fell about with laugher,
then wrestled me to the ground
using his knees to pin
my shoulders to the floor.
My brother, the bully.
But I loved him.
Years later, when our mother said she
had heart problems, my brother told her
it was impossible.
How can you? he said.
You don’t have a heart.
The questions still disturb me to this day.
Copyright 2024 Libby Sommer
Have a read of my poem ‘Tactics’, first published in Quadrant Magazine. ‘Tactics’, inspired by my own struggles on the tennis court, is one of the poems in my latest poetry collection, ‘Flat White, One Sugar‘, Ginninderra Press.
I hope you enjoy it.
Tactics:
A woman is hitting back & forth
across the net, a peaked cap
secured by her ponytail.
Can she overcome the self-doubt,
anxiety & lapses of concentration?
She mustn’t let her mind
be the winner in this battle.
Right here, right now,
she’s in control,
even in the wind,
alternating her drives
to the far corners of the court.
Nothing distracts her,
not the noisy leaf blower
or her male opponent
with superior physical strength.
Tactics are her best weapon.
Now she is serving,
tossing the ball high,
straight as an arrow,
reaching up,
accelerating,
out wide
to his lefthanded backhand.
She ignores her cap
escaping with the wind
as she executes
a perfect follow through.
She smiles.
Ace! It’s an ace.
Copyright 2025 Libby Sommer
Have a read of my poem ‘Weavers’, first published in Quadrant Magazine. Let me know what you think. ‘Weavers’ is one of the pieces in my second poetry collection ‘Flat White, One Sugar’ (Ginninderra Press).
Weavers:
A well-hidden spider
created patterns
outside my office window
against the wooden frame.
I’d see the new progression
of her magnum opus
from my writing desk.
I’d be weaving plot entanglements
and she’d have shown off
her vision
to fast-moving days
as the year raced to its ending.
In the afternoons I’d be outside
hanging washing
picking up broken branches
watering herbs
and she’d have converted
moths and small flies into
sticky brown blobs.
A kookaburra laughed
from the clothesline.
Daily spider prompts helped drive me,
our compulsions to create on either
side of the glass.
One day the cleaner
sprayed the windows,
splattered and splashed,
with his power-hose.
By noon all surfaces
shone brightly.
Did the spider live?
Did she find a different hideout?
Her masterpiece is imprinted
on my brain:
its scaffolding
beginnings,
endings.
Copyright 2025 Libby Sommer
Have a read of my poem ‘What Could We Say?’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. It is one of the poems in my latest collection ‘Flat White, One Sugar‘ (Ginninderra Press).
I hope you enjoy it.
What Could We Say?:
Before dawn’s soft lightening,
rain stills itself on flat roofs
in pools of stagnant water.
Each morning we hear
a car speed up the hill
and dark recurring dreams
which tossed and turned
our restless selves, leave us
twisted in the sheets.
Now we start
warming rooms,
opening blinds.
Into the silence,
tight with the unspoken,
our thoughts pokerfaced
– space enough not given or seized –
moments hang,
more half-empty
than half-full.
Copyright 2024 Libby Sommer
Have a read of my poem ‘Flat White, One Sugar’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. It is the title poem in my latest collection ‘Flat White, One Sugar‘ (Ginninderra Press).
I hope you enjoy it.
Flat White, One Sugar:
Up above is special to the birds.
A new craft beer is special to schooner-lovers,
who know it will have a unique aftertaste
before they’ve even had a sip.
The beanie warming the newborn
is special to the mum
swaddling her in hospital.
The cough is special, wretchedly, to the throat.
The wish you hold secretly inside yourself
is special to your being.
The gumboots are special to dry feet,
more special than the joggers,
which are special only in the gym.
The video of the runners
is not special to the owner of the phone
but is special to the competitors in the race.
I don’t want to be special to baristas
who ask how was my weekend,
or people bent over hand-held devices,
not special to those who don’t listen
when I answer their questions.
I want to be as special
as a morning coffee addiction,
but in the way a scarf is special,
or warm gloves,
not because they stand out from the crowd,
but because they know
they give comfort to others.
Copyright 2024 Libby Sommer
Have a read of my poem ‘Crows Never Forget’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. ‘Crows Never Forget’ is one of the poems in my recently released collection ‘Flat White, One Sugar‘ (Ginninderra Press).
I hope you enjoy it.
Crows Never Forget:
can we remember like they do
through long rain-drenched months
with their clever chat?
one warns the others a human who scared them
years ago but the crows when the sky cleared
cried out loud and raucous
near the top-floor balcony
trellised with spring buds
crow-speech channelling new connections into
the sides of my head
Copyright 2024 Libby Sommer
Libby Sommer, Author 