Long listed for the WALKING HOME writing competition run in January & February 2022

Down the bush, a currawong cried out its name as I pushed through ferns past Old Man Banksia. Dry bracken crackled underfoot.
A lizard scuttled under a pile of rocks.

The bush was alive.
I breathed in the scent of eucalyptus.

Brown snake.
Run home to a house next to a tall gum tree with blood-red resin glistening down its white trunk.
A butcherbird cawed.

Over the creek.
Cross the rotten log to the flat rock.
Stick figures of a man and a woman, curves of a snake, a bounding kangaroo. The rock was alive.
Aboriginal souls trapped inside.

Slipping on sludge, I caught a whiff of the damp smell of wood and felt myself being sucked into an unknown Dreamtime.

Run home.
Go back.
But the only option was …onwards.

Read more from the Long List of poems and stories submitted to the WALKING HOME writing competition. Watch winning authors reading their work on the video of the Write About Walking Home showcase event that took place on Sunday 25 September 2022.

Itching to write something yourself? Submit a piece to our Shorelines project, and invite your friends to read it aloud. Join one of our creative writing workshops or keep up to date with all our competitions by signing up to our curated newsletter here.

Purchase a copy of WALKING 2022 – an illustrated anthology of poems and stories on the theme of “Walking Home” for €4.99+p&p (see image to the left) or go for a bundle of WALKING 2022 AND WALKING 2021 – a similar illustrated anthology of poems and stories on the theme of “Walking and Listening”- a bumper package of 27 poems and stories and save €1.50 (see image to the right). Purchase from our Shop.