She’s simply not
interested in the
correlation between
my mental health &
a good dose of
Keeping Up with
the Kardashians;
nor the poetry of
Sam Riviere; nor
the ballsports of
many a varietyJustin, a linguist would say,
violates backchannel norms.
He withholds those subtle signs—
mmm-hmm, right, yeah—quick
head-nods—that indicate an
engaged listener, & encourage
the speaker to continue.
He makes eye contact
like a person who has been
told that eye contact is very,
very importantKafka once wrote,
I tell her, I solve
problems by letting
them devour me.
Yeah, she replies,
but I don’t think
he meant that
as adviceHe lives in a hotel now. His monkey
was recently confiscated in GermanyOne way to solve
these problems,
she tells me,
is to not write
this poem at all.
I say, Stop making
this about youHe takes Adderall to help him
concentrate, because his sleep
is too restless to make endorphins.
But he hopes to cut it out soon,
and replace it with something more
natural – he’s flying to New York
tomorrow to see the specialistI’m sorry, I
tell her later,
sorrier than
I can say
in such a
tiny chat boxToday is Justin’s first day off
Adderall. He has the arcade
closed so he can shoot hoops
with the journalist who’s inter-
viewing him for GQ; he has the
cineplex closed so he can
take you to the moviesI’m working
on a poem,
I tell her, that
destabilises
contemporary
verse – but
not much.
I mean, it’s not
doing anything
interesting
with the line,
meter, or voice;
it ignores the
entire history
of the lyric as
well as Charles
Bernstein; it’s
not conceptual,
or if it is does
not realise; it’s
neither intimate
nor alienating
enough, it’s
not concerned
with troubling
that binary,
only itself;
it’s exceedingly
long and boring;
but not quite
elating in it
terribleness.
It simulates
the feeling of
disappointment
without deliveringHe plays the journalist a new song
he is working on called ‘Insecurities’;
he asks her if she likes it. She does.
The hook, Oh, oh… oh, oh…
fix all of your insecurities –
rattles round in her head for days
- 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
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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
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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
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86: NO THEME VII
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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
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80: NO THEME VI
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57.1: EKPHRASTIC
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57: CONFESSION
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56: EXPLODE
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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