Issue 13: Jan./Feb. 2016

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Issue 13: The Shadowed Side

7th February, 2016

Welcome to our first issue of 2016 featuring creative writing’s Shadowed

Side, where reside the things we hide, things other’s cannot abide. Our feature piece,

Raphaelle Race’s poem The last battle, explores the brutality of dealing with a mental

illness and the feeling of being at war with one’s self. We also have works exploring

love lost, selfish and mysterious villains, and the eternal wrestle with one’s mortality.

Welcome to the Shadowed Side.

A heartfelt thank you, as always, to our contributors, who patiently and

generously incorporate the feedback from our team of editors to make their work

shine just that little bit brighter. We love what we do here at Underground, and

arguing for our favourite pieces is the part we love best. Writers from all over the

world provide us quarterly with a fascinating array of subjects and forms which we

passionately dissect, critique and fight for, and this issue features pieces that were

dissected with particular care. Another heartfelt thank you to you, our readers, who

support us by enjoying Underground, perhaps over a coffee or tea, on the train, or in

a cosy alcove, shadowed and mysterious.

~ Jemimah

Editor-in-Chief

I am a Melbourne-based reader, writer and editor of adventures for word-lovers.

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter @oddfeatheredit, and my website oddfeather.co

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Editor-in-Chief

Jemimah Halbert

Volunteer editors

Timi Adeyemi, Ailish Beahan

Dylan Dartnell, Kate Lomas Glendenning

Ana Neves, Candace Sharpe

Shelley Timms, Jessica Wilson

Contributors

Luna Ma Narama

Flick Oriander

Raphaelle Race

Anthony Ward

Kate Lomas Glendenning

Underground Literary Magazine is published four times a year

Underground would like to respectfully acknowledge this magazine was

produced and edited on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people of

the Kulin nation, and also on the traditional lands of the Wadjuk people of

the Nyoongar nation. As a nationally-reaching magazine, we also pay our

respects to the traditional custodians of all the lands from which the stories

and poems in this issue were sourced.

Views expressed by authors are not necessarily those of the publisher. Copyright is

reserved, meaning no one is permitted to scan or photograph our pages and publish them

anywhere else. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited.

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Contents

Cover………...Editor’s Letter

4………….Feature: The last battle, Raphaelle Race

5……………..Wild Mind, Felicity Oriander

6………….Review of Patrick Marber’s Closer, by IntoxiKate

7……Gush, Luna Ma Narama

8………….The Captured, Felicity Oriander

10………….I’m mortal, Anthony Ward

12………….Firestarters, Luna Ma Narama

14………….Upcoming Local Opportunities

16………….Upcoming International Opportunities

18………….Our Editors

Back cover………………...Writing exercise & Contact

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Feature piece

The last battle

Raphaelle Race

His life has been a series of retreats

unable to make up lost ground

but there was cohesion, until

he heard Them clawing through the pages of his greatest novel

ready to tear him a-fucking-part

the only way to fend Them off

gasoline and an old wheelbarrow by the pond

I saw the ashy dead fluttering

a week later abandoned

in their cradle

he was too terrified to approach it

so there was a new path worn around to the chicken coop

he went back to the whiter the rounder

the easier to see with

with pills, the world is nervous

but it has stopped its quaking

there is stillness now but

that wheelbarrow still squats by the water

swelling in its iron

his eyes glance off it sometimes

and you can see shining on the pond

the pages flaring in his arms

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Wild Mind

Felicity Oriander

Won’t be silly and desirous

Even though I saw myself in your shiny eyes

For I am on the important precipice

Can’t glorify the dizzying highs

Stories of tell-tale dreams flow forth

You appear to be made from my kind of kin

Enthusiasm unrelenting, we acknowledge

Your value on friendship is the one way in.

Self-consciousness escaped me I feel,

No looking with fake future vision.

It does impress me, entice me to kneel.

Your mind is pointed and humbly wise.

In you I see a mystery that we,

Do have; but lost long ago

Rekindling elusive Universal agape,

Please say you’ve surrendered your born shadow.

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Review

Closer

Patrick Marber

An important feature of a good play is dialogue. The expressions, actions and scenery

are minor to dialogue and character development in Patrick Marber’s

play, Closer. Marber captured moments of brutal honesty regarding contemporary

romance and delivered a sincere account of the mess, love and perfidy caused between

two couples.

In order to appreciate Marber’s play I don’t think it is necessary to be a fan of plays, but

it is necessary to be sympathetic to each character. At the end of the play no character

was right, they each said or did something to each other, yet that is how the play is

captivating. The anger and cruelty of each character, which was especially reflective in

the dialogue, was painfully realistic.

Marber’s play is memorable because of one of his main characters, Alice. Alice was

bewildering from the start; her actions and conversation made her appear to be wild and

overly confident. Yet, as the play progressed, despite being a main character, Alice

appeared enigmatic until the final scene. I loved her for her honesty and her

understanding of how the world worked, this was reflected in her discussion with Dan on

the only way you can leave someone,

“Alice: It's the only way to leave. "I don't love you anymore. Goodbye."

Dan: Supposing you do still love them?

Alice: You don't leave.”

Another memorable “Alice moment” was her description of the concept of falling in love,

“That's the most stupid expression in the world. 'I fell in love'—as if you had no choice.

There's a moment, there's always a moment; I can do this, I can give in to this or I can resist

it. I don't know when your moment was but I bet there was one.”

The play was adapted into a movie in 2004 with a star stamped cast of: Natalie Portman,

Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen. The movie remained loyal to the play but

allowed itself to be glamorized by the scenery, rather then relying on the dialogue. I

would recommend the play to people who aren’t offended by harsh language and are

sympathetic to flawed characters with memorable lines.

~ IntoxiKate

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GUSH

Luna Ma Narama

Giddy hop.

Tongued, torn,

drawn and sanctioned,

she is thorny

and in bloom.

Begging the rivulets

to burst

themselves

and remember high tide

she is acres,

aching for

discoveries,

forest folk

learning leaf languages,

pressed hard

in to archaic memory.

She is fire on the tongues

of the holy,

ice in hearts of the sworn,

she is candy jazz

and salt glass rim

finger printed with sweat,

she is Guatemala,

and she knows it.

Howling down the moon

in thick night,

she the heartbeat of

rubber on tar

making time.

A promise and a threat,

she is sugar and arsenic,

a beginning, a middle,

and an end,

but not necessarily

in that order.

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The Captured

Felicity Oriander

He had a magnetic quality to him. A polarity that, at the time, was addictive.

Fool that I was I ploughed on ahead. Lost in a black forest of his fantasy. As

well as his majestic beard.

When he spoke it was rarely of him or his life. The past became the master of

his present I could see. I suspected his mind became engulfed by it. Many

warning signs I brushed over simply because he was unique. An Old Soul just

like me. An alpha male writer. No wonder I was dazzled by him, I definitely

desired him. I wanted to be comfortable around him and yet I was never fully

unhindered. We had a magnetic chemistry, unlike anything I’d experienced

before with other suitors. But energetically we were mismatched. He was a

critical thinker and deeply hostile towards society.

As always, my intuition was there, trumpeting in the background.

He gave off a strong ‘me against the world’ vibe far too frequently. Creating

in his world a void that only seemed to be gaining momentum until a moment

of cataclysm. A black whirl of bleak thoughts and discontent. However, it was

also visible to me, that in another time, he had blossomed as such. I wish I

could’ve been the one to see him roar with laughter, be in a place of peace

and seen him bound up to friends excited as a child, gushing words of life

delight. Witnessed him showing off about his interests and achievements.

Revelled in his masculinity. But those were my heart’s decisions, not my head’s. I

did not listen to it. Or my gut. Both is required for the soul to flourish. The

‘coming home’ of right decisions.

Socially adept with anyone, he was never thrown inwardly. Never made to

feel rattled or ill at ease. Not that I detected anyway. But, sometimes, I saw

flashes in his eyes of discomfort within himself. The whole way through he only

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wanted me for his intent. As ridiculous and flimsy as it was- he was not a man

of strong character. In the past he would have been, the future, perhaps, but

not now. In light of his actions, it eroded my inner power.

In the end it all got too much, it consumed me. Ten months after meeting he

occupied my thoughts and very self to the point of being in disharmony with

my Being.

On the advice of my friend Pippa- a woman of sunshine and much strength; I

deleted him from Facebook and erased his number. Relief. New space. I set

myself free. It really did call for that kind of drastic action.

He hit me like an old-worldly train, all charm and mystery and vague

substance.

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I’m mortal

Anthony Ward

Him: I’m mortal? I want to be immortal.

Her: Not this again. We’ve been through this. What’s the point of trying to be

immortal at the expense of living in the hope of existing long after you’re

dead? You spend so much time trying to define life that you’re unable to live it

by constantly being dissatisfied with it.

Him: I’m not dissatisfied with life. I’m dissatisfied with people. I find it

increasingly difficult to show my face in public because I’m ashamed, not of who

I am, but of who I’m not. I’m no longer the person I thought I was. When no-one

else seems to think of you in the way you think of yourself you begin to question

yourself until you’re constantly left wondering who you are. Yet we always see

ourselves differently from what others see us as. We may think we’re somebody,

but nobody else does, so can we really be that person we think we are if

nobody else thinks we are? If everyone thinks we’re somebody we’re not and we

think we’re somebody we’re not then where does that leave us? That we are

only who we imagine we are? So nobody really knows who they are. They only

think they do. But the most difficult thing is admitting the fact that you’re not who

you thought you were.

Her: Well who the hell is? We all turn out to be something else in the end.

Him: That’s the trouble I’m not something else.

Her: Maybe you’re pulling yourself down with all the gravitas you’re expecting

of yourself.

Him: I just want to contribute something to the understanding of humanity. I want

to write something meaningful because I have no idea what anything means. Life

seems so pointless at times. I just can’t find any meaning for it.

Her: Maybe there isn’t any meaning.

Him: I’m more for conversing about the finer details in life, like the reasons why

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we’re here. The world is a blessing. Nature is so fascinating. It renders your

problems obsolete. When I’m out walking by myself away from people, nothing

seems to matter. I can no longer embroil myself in the mundanity of things.

Her: The mundanity of things?

Him: The trivia of everyday life. That pococurantism towards the main course of

life that gets people excited over mere trifles, gossiping about themselves and

other people. What is gossip if nothing more than the ridicule of others?

Indulging in others mistakes and failures to make ourselves feel superior?

Nobody has time for anyone who is lost or who doesn’t know themselves. When

you’re alone you’re very much alone and when you’re together you’re very

much together. When we’re happy we find one another. When we’re sad we

find ourselves.

Her: Perhaps you’re just a little out of your depth at the moment, but you’re

learning all the time. You can only truly fail once you fail to keep going. There’s

no turning back because everything’s progress.

Him: I just need to know what I’m doing is worthwhile. Not just for me, but for

others who I feel I’ve let down. I believe in hard work but I cannot abide hard

work wasted. I’ve put a lot of effort into what I do—all for what?

Her: Don’t you think you’re being a little self-centred?

Him: If I’m a little self centred it’s because I’ve got ambition. My soul’s seething

with passion. I want to be something more than what others want. I don’t want to

shrivel behind my insecurities. I want to find a voice.

Her: Maybe instead of looking for a voice you should just stop and listen.

Maybe then you may find some meaning to everything.

Him: I do listen. I just don’t like what I hear.

Her: Like the fact you drink too much. That’s why you’re mortal.

Him: I think too much. That’s why I’m pissed.

Issue 11: 14th June, 2015

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Firestarters

Luna Ma Narama

There are words that once wrote the world,

In dark cover night,

fat key type-writers

scorned down from the bourgeoisie syndicate highways,

vowels ebbed

through crack window smoke curls,

new truths

beat out to the street

via psychotropic skyways

Pillars of ink

taken up by sun,

rained syrupy into upturned slick pavement ears

of black blooded babes

strung out on

high wire

celestials

There are words that once wrote the world.

Words marched hot to blister tongues of the uninitiated

to Scorch souls

used to confines,

see there, if you catch the neons just right,

you see the trails left blazing

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Come on baby,

carve me a dawn from this here inferno,

lets roll up these school-girl skirts

and blister our knees

on tomorrows promise,

let’s leave scratch marks

on backs

of sleeping darlings

rolled up, in pollo neck rhythms,

those pussies that purred the

pulse of the savage endless.

Itchy finger technicians at the ignition of a

dreaming.

Let beat the heady riots,

slipping unmanned between linguistic acrobatics

to fill slumbered minds with sweet word treats

ready to roll long on the tongue.

There are words that once wrote the world.

Let’s have this pulse relight them.

Issue 11: 14th June, 2015

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Awards & Competitions

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival and AAWP Prize

A fantastic prize for emerging Australasian writers. The theme is ‘Tat Tvam Asi’, which is a

Hindu concept meaning ‘I am you, you are me’, accepting pieces of up to 30 lines of poetry

or up to 3000 words of prose. Closes 15th May. ubudwritersfestival.com/aawp-prize/

Griffith University Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize & Poetry Prize 2016

First prize of $10,000, second prize of $5,000 for a short story up to 2,000 words.

First prize of $10,000, second prize of $5,000 for a poem up to 100 lines.

Entries for both prizes close 12th February, winners announced mid-May. griffith.edu.au/

2016 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize

Open for short stories between 2,000 and 5,000 words, entry $20 for non-ABR subscribers.

Winner receives $7,000, second prize is $2,000 and third prize is $1,000. Entries close 11th

April. australianbookreview.com.au/

The Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing

Currently accepting fiction and non-fiction manuscripts of at least 20,000 words, with an

open theme suitable for children or young adults. Submissions open 1st February and close

4th March. textpublishing.com.au/text-prize

Publications

P3 WA

Kim Sanders Pty Ltd Publishing is calling for original creative writing submissions up to 4,000

words in length for their quarterly publication P3, with an annual prize pool of $2,000. They

accept poetry, plays and prose. writingwa.org/

Westerly Literary Magazine

Submissions are open for issue 61.1 for writing focussing on the theme of renewal in

Indigenous writing and culture. They are seeking essays, creative non-fiction, fiction and

poetry. Submissions close 31st March. westerlymag.com.au/

Upcoming Local Opportunities

Opportunities from Australasian and New Zealand publications and organisations

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Antic

Antic is a new not-for-profit online literary magazine of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and

criticism open to Australian and international writers. anticmagazine.com.au/

Griffith Review Novella Project IV

Griffith Review are accepting submissions for their annual Novella Project edition, prizes

are a share in the $25,000 prize pool and a free one-year digital subscription to Griffith

Review. They are seeking original works of fiction between approximately 10,000 and

35,000 words, submissions close 13th May. griffithreview.submittable.com/

ELEVATE initiative for playwrights

Writers can enter in the young adult round, 18-25, or older ,26+. The competition is for a

one-act play. Both categories close submissions 25th March. theatre451.com/elevate/

Field of Words Flash Fiction & Short Story Competition

Currently open and accepting flash fiction of 100-500 words, and short stories of 1,000-

2,500 words, with cash and publication prizes. fieldofwords.com.au/writing-competition/

Questions Writing Prize

For writers between 18-30 years of age, submissions can be fiction or non-fiction between

1,500 and 2,000 words, first prize of $2,000. questions.com.au/writing-prize/index.php

Local publications regularly accepting submissions

Grouch Publishing—grouchpublishing.com

Tincture Journal—tincture-journal.com/

Island Literary Magazine—islandmag.com/pages/submit

Voiceworks Magazine for Young Writers—oiceworksmag.com.au/contribute/

Going Down Swinging—goingdownswinging.org.au/site/submissions/

Cordite Poetry Review—cordite.org.au/submissions/

Creatrix Poetry & Haiku Journal—creatrix.wapoets.net.au

Uneven Floor Poetry Magazine—unevenfloorpoetry.blogspot.com.au

Issue 11: 14th June, 2015

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Awards & Competitions

The Bath Short Story Award—Bath, U.K.

The Bath Short Story Award, based in Bath, UK, is open to international published and

unpublished writers, entry fee of £8. Short stories of up to 2,200 words in any genres and

styles, entries close 25th April. bathshortstoryaward.co.uk/

Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction—Colorado State University, U.S.A.

Theme is open, stories must be between 2,00 and 12,500 words, and entry is US$15 per

entry, no limit of entries. Submissions close 14th March. coloradoreview.colostate.edu/

Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize—Vermont, U.S.A.

This prize is run by Hunger Mountain journal and open to writers internationally. Stories may

be up to 10,000 words, the winner receives US$1,000 and publication. Entries close 1st

March. hungermtn.org/contests/

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest—Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Open theme, US$18 per entry, limit of 6,000 words. Entries close 30th April.

winningwriters.com/

Conium Review Innovative Short Fiction Contest—U.S.A.

For new writing that takes risks, showing something new in its subject, style or characters. Limit

of 7,500 words, entries close 1st May. oniumreview.com/

The David Nathan Meyerson Prize for Fiction—Texas, U.S.A.

Open to writers who have not published a book of fiction. Winner receives US$1,000 and

publication in Southwest Review. Stories can be up to 8,000 words, entry fee of US$25,

deadline 1st May. smu.edu/SouthwestReview/

The HG Wells Short Story Competition—U.K.

For stories between 1,500 and 5,000 words. Entries close 17th July.

hgwellscompetition.com/

Upcoming International Opportunities

Opportunities from international publications and organisations

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Bath Flash Fiction Award—Bath, U.K.

Maximum length is 300 words, excluding title, entry fees apply. Entries close 14th February.

bathflashfictionaward.com/

Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities Competition—Glasgow, U.K.

A free-entry competition for anyone in the world, they are accepting science fiction short

stories up to 3,000 words, the deadline is the 29th February. scifimedhums.glasgow.ac.uk/

Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2016 Short Story Competition—London, U.K.

Open to all nationalities, entrants must be registered with Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. The

Prize is £500, a place in a writing course, and publication on the website. Entries close 15th

February. writersandartists.co.uk/

International publications currently accepting submissions

Buffalo Almanack—buffaloalmanack.com/submit/

Stoneboat Literary Journal—stoneboatwi.com/submit.html

Indiana Review—indianareview.org/submit/

Tin House—tinhouse.com/magazine/

Word Riot—wordriot.submittable.com/Submit

Granta—granta.submittable.com/submit

Ginosko—ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/downloads.htm

Sixpenny & Co.—sixpenny.org/#!submit/c1m30

The Wrong Quarterly—thewrongquarterly.com/

Quiddity International Literary Journal—quidditylit.com/?page_id=9

Neon Literary magazine—neonmagazine.co.uk/

Fields Magazine—fieldsmagazine.com/submissions/

Issue 11: 14th June, 2015

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The

team

Read our full biographies at underground-writers.org

LiquorIsh

I’m in my first year of a writing major at Edith

Cowan. I grew up on the beaches of Albany, a small

city on the south coast of Western Australia

So far, it has been a pleasure to immerse myself in

all of your work. Keep it coming!

DylanQuent I am studying a major in Literature and Writing, here

at ECU, Mt Lawley

I believe that collaboration is an integral component

to the creative process. I favour pieces dark in

nature; I cannot help but visualise a beauty in the

macabre. But the pieces that resonate with me most

ultimately leave me higher spirited by tale’s end.

Candy

I have grown up reading every book I could get my hands on.

I have a borderline addiction to Pinterest, am a

vegetarian, am prone to getting attached to inanimate

objects, French fluent, and guilty of becoming too invested in

the lives of fictional characters.

RaeZor I am majoring in Writing and Events Management

with Minors in History and Hospitality at ECU.

One day I hope to own a book café, where anyone

from anywhere can come and enjoy the

atmosphere… or more importantly the food. That’s

what reading and writing is to me—a medium that

anyone from anywhere can contribute to.

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Ana’Rchy

Avid reader, writer and feminist. I even taught Mark

Ruffalo how to be a great feminist. You’re welcome

ladies (and Mark – call me later, babes!)

Find Ana’Rchy on Instagram and Twitter

@anamonthsago

IntoxiKate

I have spent my life with my head inside books. I am a

perpetual student, zealous writer, incurable reader

and passionate editor. My weaknesses are books, tea

and quoting authors, “Always”.

Tim

I have a Bachelors in Mass Communication from

Redeemer’s University, majoring in Public Relations

and Advertising, and I am currently a first year

Postgraduate student of Marketing and Innovation

Management at Edith Cowan University. I am a lover

of poems and great speeches, “Let a Hundred

flowers Blossom” by Mao Zedong seems to be my all

-time favourite. I also love star gazing.

ShellShock

I am currently a Journalism student at Edith Cowan University.

There’s something about getting to know the inner workings of

someone during an interview that is compelling, and the same

goes for fiction.

Issue 11: 14th June, 2015

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Writing exercise #13

Write the place you are in right now. List the sensations

experienced by your skin, ears, eyes and nose. Reduce it to the

three strongest images and write a separate scene for each linked

to a memory of a similar sensation, i.e. sitting under a tree in

dappled shade can become lying on a trampoline under the shade

of a gum tree when you were a child, or the smell of coffee

reminds you of mornings before school. Turn these three scenes into

a poem, linking each scene as a journey through memory.

Contact

Submit your work to Underground at

submissions@underground-writers.org

For general enquiries you can email us at

queries@underground-writers.org

Our website is underground-writers.org

Find us on Facebook at Underground Writers

Follow us on Twitter @undergroundWA