if bracken exists    dear Inger    & black-

berries blackberries    if bromine exists

& steely chromium    days & dreamers

dioxin    eider ducks    if-all-of-this

white    bright-shining    blue or greenish    truly

exists so do we    if the news is true

if we believe the television dream

that half the earth is given to blackness

& killers exist & guns guns then this

suggests we do too    if I/you exist   

o! if anything effortless exists

within us    along with efforts to black

out the actual    if chemicals are true

& bombs bombs    if breathing is real    if these

cracks are just pictures    these pictures just dreams

if June nights exist    if juniper dreams

if everything turns out to be untrue

if history    whisperings    don’t exist

if the future the future    is-not-this

then why these berries in my lap     why black

Jordie Albiston

Jordie Albiston has published nine collections of poetry.  Her most recent titles are The Weekly Poem: 52 exercises in closed & open forms (2014) and Jack & Mollie (& Her) (2016).  Jordie's work has won many awards, including the Mary Gilmore Award and the 2010 NSW Premier's Prize.  She has an ongoing pre-occupation with mathematical constructs and constraints, and the possibilities offered in terms of poetic structure. 

Note from the editors: This poem was taken from the work of Inger Christensen’s classic ‘Alphabet’ poem.