Two Lips Went Shopping by Lizz Murphy

Two huge lips went shopping

?on a pogo stick

??for a red satin handbag

coordinated in colour

??with their cupid�s bow





'Two Lips Went Shopping' - title poem from Two Lips Went Shopping by Lizz Murphy (Spinifex Press 2000) republished with permission from the publisher.





The poem was previously published in Blast. The book was the outcome of a 1998 ACT Creative Arts Fellowship

Iambic pentameter by Patricia Sykes

I watch myself how I use my voice how
much I give away rebellion weighs
against obedience prayer against fantasy
rote against the thrill of words that lately arrive

It was hearing a girl recite Ode to a Cabbage
that made me want to write verse myself
I hide my poems like hoarded love
the taste of secrecy is delicious (Nun-

the-Big-Irish gives the girl curry
when she catches her