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.
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
There is a fabulous extensive review by Sean Wayman in this month’s October Quadrant Magazine of my two recent poetry collections, ‘The Cellist a Bellydancer & Other Distractions’ and ‘Flat White, One Sugar ‘.
For example he writes: “… there are still many poets who resist the temptations of narcissistic self-righteousness. Libby Sommer, a prolific Australian writer of fiction and poetry, eschews the moral posturing of the ideologically pure poet to cultivate an aesthetic that is observant, curious and open to experience.”
“… it is the give-and-take between openness and particularity which give her poems their unique charisma.”
“… “‘Transience’, like many of her most beautiful passages, combines sunlight, water, and open expanses of sky:
A luminous, tangerine, and blazing expanse
burst out to the left of the blue
from the harbour to the city as the western light
lowered itself behind concrete high-rises.”
If you’d like to read the full review, Quadrant Magazine is available in newsagents and online. My books can be ordered from Ginninderra Press or from other online booksellers.
https://www.ginninderrapress.com.au/store.php?catalog/search/Libby+Sommer/date/1
Photos by Jason Painter
Have a read of my poem, ‘Electioneering on the Mall’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. ‘Electioneering on the Mall’ is one of the pieces in my recently released second poetry collection, ‘Flat White, One Sugar‘ (Ginninderra Press}.
I hope you enjoy it.
Electioneering On the Mall:
Actually, I know which party
I will not be voting for.
I am a true blue Australian
hammered by our land of droughts
and flooding rains.
When it’s election
broadcast blackout time
I breathe a sigh of relief.
What? Please move so I can get by.
Yes, I know about early voting.
No, you won’t get me to
swing a different way.
Copyright 2024 Libby Sommer
Have a read of my poem, “A Refuge” written during the pandemic and first published in Quadrant Magazine. “A Refuge” is one of the poems in my recently released second collection titled “Flat White, One Sugar” (Ginninderra Press).
A Refuge:
Do you know, St Honoré Bakery,
your large black & white floor tiles
show the exact space for Social Distancing?
Your blackboard menu out front
flags passage to the shopping centre.
Surely sophisticated French indulgences
upstage all else inside,
your gateaux worthy of any Parisian patisserie:
flaky puff pastry, velvety cream,
bite-sized choux balls.
But where are you on Sunday mornings, St Honoré,
when the early cyclists ride past?
Your door is closed, your ovens unlit.
Here come gumboots & wet umbrellas
as we all live through wild weather
– back-to-back La Niñas –
and teachers from across the road arrive
in shoes with stiletto heels.
Don’t we all need a dry haven
from unrelenting winter storms?
East of the city, weather-eroded beaches
promise summer sunshine
for our light-deprived eyes.
As the ocean comes up to the land,
we hope these beaches don’t disappear.
There’s blue sky to wish for
in a gap in the clouds.
St Honoré, patron saint of bakers
& pastry cooks, I think I’m addicted to you.
I’m wondering, will your baking give
hope & warmth today?
Copyright 2024 Libby Sommer
Libby Sommer, Author 