A collection of writing from the Writeability Goes Online A writing group
The Streets Are Darker Without You Here: Contents
- ‘Peacock’ by Emma Jane Grey
- ‘Brothel Daze’ by Barbarella Karpinski
- ‘My father died aged 67, 11th May 2021’ by Karen Lowry
- ‘The Fourth Pain’ by Kellie Coff
- ‘Self-Portrait as a Conch Shell’ by Tayla Richardson
- ‘Gravitas’ by Tayla Richardson
An Introduction from Miri Hirschfeld, Writeability Program Manager
This anthology brings together work by five remarkable writers who, alongside many others, participated in Writeability Goes Online A. Generously funded by Creative Australia, Writeability Goes Online A was a program for d/Deaf and disabled writers, who met monthly over Zoom. Under the mentorship of Ruby Hillsmith, program participants developed their skills, confidence, and creative community through shared feedback and support over eight months in 2024.
The collection takes its title from the first line of Karen Lowry’s poignant piece, My Father Died Age 67, 11 May 2021, which explores themes of absence and grief — threads that run through many of these works. Loss, longing, silence, and pain are all ideas that feature in these texts.
In Karen Lowry’s meditation on her father’s death, the impact of loss is expressed through the imagery of an earthquake shattered town.
In Brothel Daze, Barbara Karpinski offers a rare glimpse into a world often hidden from view. Through striking imagery — a blurred photograph, a memento of an old friend — she explores what lingers in the shadows of absence.
The playful ambiguity of Emma Jane Grey’s poem Peacock draws us into the tension between outward appearance and inner reality.
Elsewhere, the visual form of Tayla Richardson’s poems becomes part of their meaning: words curl into the shape of a conch shell, echoing fossil imprints, impressions left behind.
Across the anthology, pain — both physical and psychological — is explored with precision and depth. Some pieces offer a near-forensic categorisation of suffering, turning discomfort into language and form, as expressed in Kellie Coff’s piece The Fourth Pain.
What unites these works is the power of their imagery and emotional truth. Like tectonic plates shifting, like continents adrift (to borrow from Karen Lowry’s piece again), there is movement here. Subtle and seismic.
This collection is a testament to the vital role of Writeability, which creates opportunities for d/Deaf and disabled voices to be heard and celebrated. The Streets Are Darker Without You Here is an apt title for a collection born from Writeability’s mission: to enrich our literary landscape by making it more vibrant, inclusive, and alive with voices too often left out of the story.
Miri Hirschfeld
Writeability Program Manager
Please be aware that the writers contributing to A Safe Space Anthology have freedom of expression and that some stories may contain coarse language or confronting themes around disability.
Copyright belongs to the creators.