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
After Paragliding
Audrey stacks the ironbark logs into a pyramid —
the showpiece of her living room — set against
the red brick walls that frame the fireplace.
The weather is overly chilly, all grey and mist.
Come twilight she lights the fire so mesmerising
in its stages that foster dreams of a partner —
a man untypical, undeniable, worth keeping
a while. Audrey courts the blue-tipped flames
and sews sparks into the weave of her robe.