My Poem “You & Me”

November 28, 2025 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 4 Comments

You & Me

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?

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.

My Poem, ‘Bewildered’

June 4, 2025 ~ Libby Sommer ~ Leave a comment

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.

Tactics

April 23, 2025 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 2 Comments

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.

Do You Like Spiders?

February 15, 2025February 15, 2025 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 9 Comments

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.

My Poem ‘What Could We Say?’

December 17, 2024 ~ Libby Sommer ~ Leave a comment

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.

My Poem, ‘Flat White, One Sugar’

November 15, 2024 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 2 Comments

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.

My Poem, Electioneering on the Mall

September 21, 2024 ~ Libby Sommer ~ Leave a comment

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.

My Poem, “A Refuge”

September 4, 2024 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 1 Comment

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?

My Poem, ‘On the Path’

August 17, 2024 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 11 Comments

I hope you enjoy it.

On the Path:

It’s green out here.

There are cliffs with straight up-and-down faces,

high-rise breeding havens for mud nesters.

I’m wanting to know

what the birds have to teach us,

but their calls are intermittent,

faint and repetitive, shrill and squawking.

I gaze over the cliffs and across the valley,

a sacred mountain range turned blue

by forests of eucalyptus, where tourists

of every colour crowd the lookouts.

Are they seeking spiritual wisdom

from the mighty mountains?

I would like to know how a lyrebird

learns its complex songs,

or how to laugh heartily like a kookaburra.

We could find vantage points

above daisies and banksias,

butterflies and mountain devils.

On this bush track – the signposted path

to a waterfall – down steps made of logs,

a man stops unexpectedly in front of me.

He squeezes and inhales the leaf of a tea tree.

I too am a believer in the healing power

of plants and in mythical mountains

and holy pilgrimages.

A majestic wedge-tailed eagle

whistles a soft peal

before soaring above us.

The sound of the waterfall

draws me onward.

My Poem, ‘Transience’

July 16, 2024 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 14 Comments

Have a read of my poem, ‘Transience’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. ‘Transience’ is one of the poems in my second collection titled ‘Flat White, One Sugar‘ (Ginninderra Press).

I hope you enjoy it.

Transience:

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.

We watched from the hill,

took a seat on the park bench,

the lawn with its after-the-rain moistness

too wet to lie back on.

We knew we had to seize

this fleeting moment.