Dear Leeming/
home of my healing and my heartbreak/
land where Karel Ave conveniently divides East from West like Montagues from Capulets (west obviously being best/
where my childhood best friend’s house is with her backyard a galaxy far far away but not so far that I couldn’t ride over whenever I wanted/
home of not enough sleepovers/
home of too many hangovers/
home of the midnight serenade as I hang my washing out listening to Julia Jacklin on repeat/ land of redtailed cockatoos and the crow with the broken wing/
land located close enough to a train station, close enough that I am not afraid enough to not walk home in the dark/
home of at least two hills/
home that I am still wary of calling home because the seasons still change here, just as I’m beginning to trust them/
home of my intermittent fitness fantasies, year in year out since I was 15/
land of the lady who asks me how old my dog is every time we see her which is about once a week/
where I discover new streets all the time/
home of unfamiliarity and a shared postcode/
the midway point between melville and cockburn/
the place where the sky is almost everywhere/
the place where the fog is too/
the place where I wrote my first poem/
where they chopped down the trees without consulting me/
where I had my first kiss/
where the streets are too damn dark/
where I woke up after the world ended
Dear Leeming,
Thank you we’re gonna get better together, aight?
half my heart, Katie
Katie Bennett
Katie is making a fool of herself in a suburb near you.
Love Letters to Perth Suburbs is inspired by the amazing work of Love Letters Zine. It’s an independent, printed publication dedicated to femme/non-binary people in music. It’s pretty phenomenal, and you can find out more about Love Letters from their Facebook Page or by following Love Letters on Instagram.