dark of the dark
dark of the moon in the dark
of year, somebody in a Subiaco
subway chanced it, ended up with water
up to their windows, winds tip houses
up-side-down, send them along water
courses, people wake up sailing
in their bedsmy two year-old grandson says he’s
busting, I take him, sit on a stool in front
of him, hand on his waist, he looks at me
sighs, asks about the pipe leading from
hand basin, I explain – water goes down
the plughole, into the downpipe, up over the bend
through the wall, continues along the side of the house
under the paving, then into underground tank near the
rocks where he was playing
we both sit quietly, then he points to the pipe, says
say again, so we both track a slug of water three more times
I’m finished, he says, leaving nothingwhen the other perceives me, it’s in reflection
so she’ll collect that scrap of something left
in a dream, tiny short sound vocalised in the
root of throat just as body lifts into first
moment of sleepshe was the only one listening as I gave birth, she
was busy dividing the dawn light
in the mirror opposite, impossible
to tell if I was labouring in or colour grey scale
she ushered in all the visitors, told me
to refuse to make them tea, but I’d lost
too much bloodshe walks on the other side of all the aisles
I walk down, has already touched every book I choose, writes
me page after page but they always get waylaid, she
charges the air with patience, counsels my impatiencewhat did you expect, she asks,
braiding the grass with her toes, I say
I wanted to wind up in a lagoon, things settled, everyone
to get out of their nautical beds, find somewhere
to hang their sheets to dry, expect to finally be able
to translate frantic signing of the trees in the wind, for
somebody’s, anybody’s, wish
to arrive
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones