Katrine Narkiewicz

Second year Journalism/ Law student at UTS. Publications my work has appeared in include: Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney City Hub, The Full Bench (UTS Law Journal), Vibewire, Sydney Writers' Festival News 2003, Australian Press Council News, Dosage Magazine. I am features editor of online youth magazine. www.dosagemag.com.

Reality Check

By Katrine Narkiewicz

Coming of age,
Leaving the safety of the
Tunnel of childhood,
Light at the end.
Too intense to fathom.
Playing in fast forward,
Oblivious to hourglass,
Emptying precious grains of time.

Growing up too fast.
Easy prey,
Starry eyed,
Goes forth into unknown.
Dispossessed of
Innocent territory,
As it slips from grasp.

Thrust into deep end.
Decisions- hard knocks
Of the school of life.
Can't journey
Through the tunnel
Go to infinity?

When does child become adult?
Where does one wave fold into the next?
Where are the signposts?
Not so simple,
Lines in the sand,
Not absolute.

At an eye's blink,
I am plunged into
The in-betweenness of
Adolescence-
Bursting with energy,
Defying the here and now
With an aura of invincibility.

Sham of childhood exposed.
Phony promises of a sky with
No limit,
Sucks lofty dreams
Down plughole.
Left with the next best thing,
Wishful thinking of what could have been.

That sinking feeling,
Life is holding you under duress,
Stifles desperate gasps for air
In a sterile laboratory of life's
Trials and tribulations.

Cynicism, tugging at the tattered edges of
Optimism.
Who wins?
Jury still out.

Beveridge, Judith
Bleakley, Kathleen
Boyd, Allan
Brennan, Michael
Burns, Joanne
Cameron, Lainie
Cassidy, Bonnie
Chang, Jessica
Clarke, John
Cooke, Stuart
Crane, Michael
Dechian, Sonja
Doran, Ben
Doupe, Juliana
Drewitt, Andy
Dyson, Mia
Elson, Gerard
Ferney, Liam
Garrard, Phillipa
Gibian, Jane
Greagen, Clint
Hawkins, Brian
Hickey, Kelly-Lee
Hier, Michael
Higgs, Ashley
Jelfs, Bradley
Jenkins, Gareth
Johnson, Heather Taylor
Jones, Jill
Kefala, Antigone
Keily, Tom
Knox, Elena
Locke, Kate
Lowe, Justin
Mackie, Brendan
Mann, Paddy
Messiah, Eytan
Minter, Peter
Mitchell, Paul
Morganics
Narkiewicz, Katrine
Nicholson, Anna Kerdijk
Nixon, Jenni
Oliver, Stephen
Paine, Juliet
Prater, David
Purchess, Andew
Robbins, Rachel
Scott, Ryan
Smart, Steve
Sinclair, Tim
Sometimes, Alicia
Stavanger, David
Stuart, James
Tsaloumas, Dimitris
Walter, Lesley
Webster, Ben
West, John
Westbury, Deb
Wicks, Les
Winch, Ben