Bio
James Gering is the Australian Society of Authors Emerging Poet of the Year, 2018. His full collection of poetry, Staying Whole While Falling Apart, was released by Interactive Publications in July 2021. His next collection, Tickets to the Fall of Icarus, is due out later this year with the same publisher. Poetry credits in the United States include Rattle, San Pedro River Review, and Shot Glass Journal. James lives in the Blue Mountains near Sydney. There he climbs the cliffs and rappels the canyons in search of Rilke's solitude, Chekhov's humility and dreamscapes in general.
James Gering
Tipping Point
After the protraction of her mother's death and the funeral
among the estranged, Audrey partakes at the Blues Point pub.
It spits her out into eerie moonlight, and she wends a line to
the secret garden at Lavender Bay. She comes to rest on
the harbour pier, one bare foot dangling over the edge.
Audrey splashes in and stays under for as long as she can.
At Govett's Leap in the Blue Mountains, she tosses her
phone off the edge and cups her ear for news of its crack-up.
Audrey takes a cabin deep in the Gardens of Stone and senses
the contours of the land. One sunrise she enjoys the song
of a bird she's never heard before but has always missed.