Art: Cyril Larvor

In the kitchen I stand
Tracksuit-clad and blinking
As the click of the front door shuts
The sounds of the day away.

I snuff the gas
And the subterranean gurgling fades to naught
As, like a latter-day suburban witch
Leaning over her latter-day potion
I raise the lid of my coffee pot
Damp my fingers in the steam
And enact the tri-part ritual:
Close, lift, and ever so gently pour
A rich and gleaming rope
Of boiling black memoried liquid
Bearing the imprint of half a century of pourings
Into my cup.

Reverently I raise it to my lips
And drink of another old high-ceilinged kitchen
Zig-zagged by light cutting in through the shutters
Half-closed against the sun from the run-around balcony
With its fluttering of uneven ghosts on the line
Which spoke of countless bendings and stretchings
As our mothers down the generations casually
Pegged our lives out there on the washing line:
All this inherent in that single sip.

I dip my toast in coffee, smile
And, fortified, swallow away nostalgia
and am, for now, grateful for what was.


About the author:
Denise O’Hagan is an editor by trade. Born and raised in Italy, she lived in the UK before emigrating to Australia in 1990. She holds an MA in Bibliography and Textual Criticism, and worked in book publishing in London (Collins, Heinemann, Routledge) and Sydney (Harcourt Brace, Cambridge University Press, State Library of NSW). In 2015 she set up her own imprint, Black Quill Press, to assist independent writers.

She has written fiction (short stories, Papyrus Publishing) and poetry. Her published poems include: ‘And the nuns wore lipstick’, ‘Honolulu breakfasts’, ‘I am lucky’ (New Reader Magazine, 2018 (https://www.newreadermagazine.com/ issue 2) and ‘Now he is here’ (Other Terrain Journal, 2018 http://www.otherterrainjournal.com.au/issues/issue-five/now-he-is-here ). ‘And the nuns wore lipstick’ was also discussed at Sydney’s Speakers’ Corner. ‘Recalling Sarah’ is due to be published by Pink Cover Zine this October and is shortlisted for the ACU Poetry Prize 2018. Her favourite poet, and the biggest influence on her, is Seamus Heaney. Website: https://blackquillpress.com/.

Art: Cyril Larvor, @cyrillarvor_blackbird

In the artist’s words:

My Black Bird artist name is a wink to the crow who is an animal who is often hated by his appearance as the black cat, but who is also revered by a tremendous amount of culture and seen as one of the smarter animals capable of counting and speaking. Speaking … and I have already seen it.I have always drawn, painted and photographed. I wanted to be a cartoonist in advertising or photography, but I went to study in business and computer science.For 15 years I worked in the directions of information and computer security. 2 years ago I stopped to return in my first love the art and the human. My influences are vast; I was born in the 80s in the northern suburbs of Paris where social and cultural diversity is enormous. The 80s were a huge source of artistic inspiration. In addition to contemporary art and all other movements, there was the appearance in France of graffiti, manga, hip hop, computer science and the evolution of photography and television. All this has to influence. Since my return in the art, I exhibit in the galleries. The Lavomatik, also proposes music, the book …. ART21, a gallery in Montmartre, a district which likes and others a little everywhere.My other activity is in the human and the association. I collaborate with many associations that have been used as a means of communication and income.I collaborated with associations to help orphaned children, children in difficulty, migrants and give them the means to express themselves through Mixart art. An association for the protection of the oceans Bloom.An association against skin cancerAssociations against poverty and exclusion: Emmaus, restaurant of the heart… J organizes painting workshops with children or disabled people and also grafiti classes. My inspirations are unlimited, including painting or in pictures, and I like mixing the two. My philosophical tendencies are in sharing, cohesion and construction or reconstruction away from destruction. My tips are simple. Create with your heart and share your art positively. For my art, I use all media and types of paints, but I have a preference for acrylic and aerosol: street art tools, and for digital photography and desktop publishing. To contact me, I am in the gallery Art21, otherwise by Facebook https://www.facebook.com/The-Black-Bird-BLB-465375923644961/.My project with the origamiist ​​Manuel Belhamissi https://www.facebook.com/Origami-custom-MBLB-concept-804841046289656/Instagramto Cyril Larvor or by mail for all personalized orders cyril.larvor@gmail.com.Long live art.