She looks
across the table at me
and sees what she can see:
woman approaching middle years;
small lines slow-revealing
to the surface,
grey often slipping its disguise,
loose gestational flesh and swells
and swelling;
once firm and slender
of limb.She notices
thick hair: curls, waves,
kinks, fly-away, frizz.
And tough hands with grooved skin
and raised veins, sunspots,
minor occupational burns.
She wrinkles her just-right nose
where cells produce just-right quantities
of melanin, and sighs just audibly.
Like, not like, like,
not like.Brown skin
not ‘skin colour’ skin
of the classroom Crayola set.
Brown skin that bristles
at the phrase.
Innocently spoken, ignorantly
blissful.
What you wanted.
Wasn’t this what you wanted?
An ignorance
never yours.Outer-suburban neighbourhoods
of ‘80s homogeneity:
the forces of assimilation.
Assimilation.
Cold, callous word
always calling to mind
annihilation;
annihilation of self.
Sectors of resistance
but the insidious nature of the scheme,
at the very least, transfigures dreams.When both
real and imagined worlds
deny your truths—
seeking, seeking
but never locating
a mirror that doesn’t lie,
the victor is cultural erosion.In subterranean consciousness
you decide on a mate
to release your progeny
from judgement.
Of course, you don’t realise this
when they’re comparing your skin tone
to faeces.
But twenty years hence, her father
stands beside you;
an outsider too, but not
at a glance.And now
here she is,
beloved outcome
of your coupling.
Scrutinising you, unveiled eyes
for the first time
in her 7 years.
She is purity
and full-hearted
but she has found
what separates you.You wonder
is this really what I wanted?
For her to feel, yet never
comprehend first-hand.
For these inclusivities
and exclusivities
to exist
between you and those
you’ve grown beneath your skin;
the ones you’ve suckled
from this skin.Annihilate me now?
- 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