Poet's Statement: Approaching mid-life, I am trying to let go of the fantasy that if I just get over this one last hill, that will be the last of my problems and everything will be easy. Or if it isn’t this hill, then surely it’s the next one. One day I will empty the bins and they will stay empty. (Also, one day I will pass through some invisible membrane of writerly success and my work will no longer be rejected – ha.) In fact everything is always already rotting, falling to chaos, including me, and the supply of problems is limitless. In the time it takes to dust something, more dust settles than the mind can comprehend.

I learned the glorious word omphalos from Seamus Heaney as an undergrad. One couldn’t possibly get away with using it more than once in one’s career, and I am honoured to have blown my wad in Barrow Street.

Bio: Belinda Rule writes poetry and fiction in Melbourne, Australia. Fellowships and residencies include Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Varuna, and Bundanon Trust. Her work has appeared extensively in Australia and the UK. Some highlights are: Best Australian Poems, Meanjin, Australian Book Review, Island, Westerly, Cordite Poetry Review, Oxford Poetry, and The London Magazine.