The first time you asked about it, I was tracing the patterns of the stars for you. How do you know all this? We’d gone stargazing together before, but up until then you’d never questioned why I could name all the constellations we could see from here, why I knew their shapes and their history, […]
The Quarry Journal
A journal of creative writing by students at Macquarie University
The Memory of Superman, Kimberley Carter
Maria lived in the land of Giants. She was a giant too, of course. She could hold a car in her palm. But her parents were even bigger. Papa could lift her up and spin her around as if she was a baby. She wasn’t a baby. She was seven. In those moments she became […]
The Tree, Andrew Hogan
Michael stands on the curb. It is the same curb which he stood on as a child, during the endless games of cricket, on a road which became molten black chewing gum in the crucible of a Perth summer. The road gripped you to your fielding position, like one of the toy fielders from the […]
A Literary Homicide, Jasmine Oke
Cherry. It is only a six-letter word. One vowel, consonants five, two coupled syllables. If you were to flip open a dictionary and glide over its pages for the term ‘cherry’, you may find something resembling this: Cherry /ˈtʃeri/ noun, plural cherries 1. —the fruit. 2. —the state of virginity. 3. —something new and unused. […]
small deaths in spring, Courtney Boulais
I was in a lavender field. Or a field of lavender. There were greens and purples everywhere. You were in the lavender field too. The lavender was beautiful, but I wanted nothing to do with you other than your bank details. It smelled like a local market, like I was lingering around the handmade goat […]
Hollow Smiles, Tara Lyall
Katrina Van Tassel, a restless child plagued by the age-old foe of boredom, found herself in search of a pumpkin. The eight-year-old shot through the plains of produce. The hodgepodge of orange that contently sat at the edge of her father’s farm was the most familiar of them; the pumpkins were a decidedly perfect size […]
Taking a Chance on Love, Elizabeth ‘Aoife’ McGee
Sarah scrunches up her nose as the smell of strong cologne drifts her way, doing nothing to suppress the smell of stale sweat and beer. The floor vibrates to the pulsing base of the rock music and she’s struggling to keep up with the conversation. She’s already had two wines launched at her by the […]
Pretty Boy, Caitlin Hickson
‘Such a pretty boy,’ people always say when they first see me. I have heard more sentences about my bone structure and the size of my waist than about the bruises on my skin. The audience throws me roses, no matter what I do. I think they would applaud if I just stood and smiled […]
There’s Always Another, Glenn Kershaw
Year: 2106.Location: Camp Van Tassel, France – 20 Klms from the battlefront.Five days before Bloody Tuesday Rain drummed on the mess’s roof all morning, and the soldiers made a long track of mud from the doorway on the left to the servery. They selected their food and paused, looking with increasing frustration for a free […]
Signposts, Michelle Rademeyer
Instead of sitting down to tell you a story confined to a single beginning, middle and end, I invite you to walk with me through the rugged trail of the coastal Coogee track. If a beginning must be established, one might situate us roughly half-way down Coogee Bay Road leading directly to the water. I […]