The knowledge of birds

It’s a money tree that 

sprouted in the back corner of the yard, 

which is bad for feng-shui, cash flow 

trapped with mouldy tennis balls and clusters of cat shit

now it’s spreading like a weed                                         

Birds congregate around the treasure 

Like they know 

There’s something to 

Wait

For

The sun scorches the earth

Like slime

Drenching the foundation

And things start rising to the surface

Hot

Stinky

What do they know-

jealousy? 

Or is it pure 

hunger

that drives them

In which case, can 

violence

be excused?

By Emilie Collyer, Didem Caia, & Laura Lethlean:

Emilie Collyer

Emilie Collyer lives in West Footscray, on Wurundjeri country, where she writes plays, poetry and prose. Her writing has appeared most recently in Australian Poetry Anthology, Cordite, Overland, and The Lifted Brow. Recent award-winning plays include Dream Home and The Good Girl which premiered in New York in 2016.

Didem Caia

Didem is a writer based in Melbourne. She is a graduate of NIDA and has a masters from the VCA. Didem has been awarded the RE Ross trust playwrights award, playwrighting australia script development workshops and has been a grantee of the australian arts council, the Ian potter cultural trust, the Copywright agency cultural fund as well as the Melbourne and Sydney council for her creative pursuits. Her plays have been produced in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra and have appeared in many new writing festivals around the world. In 2015 didem was named a 30 under 30 writer to watch, and has worked collaboratively in community and outreach programs facilitated by Dandenong City Council, Victorian Drama League, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Outer urban projects, Outback Theatre Company and the Tuggeranong arts centre. In October 2017, Didem was shortlisted for the CHASS Young Leader under 30 Award. In 2018 Didem founded an initiative, ‘the project word’ where she works with individuals and organisations to grow creativity and community through the use of speaking and the written word.

Laura Lethlean

Laura Lethlean is a Melbourne based playwright. Laura's produced plays include Plastic Pacific (The Substation, 2013), How Are You (Canberra Design Festival, 2015), The Space Between the Fuel and the Fire (NIDA, 2016), Fading (Canberra Theatre Centre, 2018), Two Hearts (Kings Cross Theatre, 2018), Strata Inc. (with Faran Martin, The Burrow, 2018), Two Hearts (The Butterfly Club, 2019) The Three Graces (Theatreworks, 2019). Laura is a graduate of NIDA's Writing for Performance MFA, an alumni of the ATYP Fresh Ink program and a founding member of The Anchor. The Space Between the Fuel and the Fire was published by NoPassport Press in 2016.