Congratulations to curator Monica Markovina for bringing the magic of raining poetry to Australia. The Treelines exhibition inhabits Ward Lane in Mittagong and includes photographic works as well as poems by Mark Tredinnick, Lorne Johnson and Phillip Hall.

I loved the blustery wind and calm chatting that filled the laneway as people came together then moved through the space: reading, looking, contemplating.

Lorne helped me reconsider how others could see bushland through his cheekily titled ‘If Emily Bronte visited Budderoo Plateau today she would most enjoy’

If Emily Bronte visited Budderoo

Plateau today show would most enjoy

1 watching dawn-light spill across

overland swamps 1 listening keenly

to the rhapsodic shrill of emu-wrens

3 potoroo-spotting by sedge-mire edge

or 4 sitting behind the wheel of a burnt-out

V8 Commodore while politely sipping VB

Lorne Johnson reads to the crowd

The ephemeral nature of poetry that is best seen after rain in a communal space makes this an adventurous exhibition. It requires re-visiting. I hope to walk this way again soon, without the crowd and maybe a quiet coffee at the Shaggy Cow.

Lorne also read ‘Pigeon House’ from his Morton anthology, and I heard again this intriguing line about a lizard resting in the sun

dreaming of a life without cold blood

admiring the work of Paul Harmon

The shadows and reflected sun added intersections and depth to Phillip Hall’s ‘Red Gold’. Different vantage points – standing on a bench, in the shade, sideways – invited different readings.

Red Gold by Phillip Hall

How might this space appear in early morning light?

Mim Stirling's trees at night

Find out more, and keep up to date with the space at WardLaneArt

Read the Southern Highlands News article ‘Invisible poetry waits’