In country towns
I search the faces of men: young and old
For familiar reflectionsMy grandmother never lived long enough to know me
Small brown woman, cheekbones look fist-proof in this sienna photo I carry
Where she once walked these streets in her cheap leather shoes
Flat sensible scraps scrimped together from the war effortShe and I both offspring of one rootless tyrant and many gentle wanderers
(like her fading old people, striding tall from camp to camp,
following the seasons like their old folks did)Her thin dress swishes over our skinny brown body
She was not a lady who lunched
She made the food, set the tables, and cleared them away
But was never allowed to enjoy the fruits of her labourHer hunger pains stab into me too
I live inside her, cradled between hipbones
An egg inside another (but Mum absorbs most of the shock so I don’t break)
We guide her true, because
They stole her from her mother being able toWe pull at her belly when she takes a wrong turn,
Talks to bad men and listens to their flattery
Do not deliver us to evil!
We rattle our cages, making her sickBut occupation is nine tenths of the law
He squats her womb with no invitation at all
Working her fingers to the bone
A broken back for stolen wages and a belly full of babyLater on, when Mum smuggles me out
We go screaming into that good nightBut the cheek of this man
Just a cheeky slap, here and there, then:
A fist cracks a cheek and knocks some teeth loose
She’s bleeding pus and pissing blood
Not just her own, but the blood of our ancestors
Clots up in her brainBut a woman’s work is never done
(to wash blood out of cloth: scrub with very cold water before using soap)
Laundry wrung out and hung up like white flags of surrender
Sunlight’s the best disinfectantFor shame
He cleaves her liver with well-placed knee
She bleeds pus and pisses blood for the lastTime
Ain’t nothing like pain to bring you back to the present
As we walk the grand streets of this small country town
I look from face to face for echoes of my face without a mirror
Listening out for whether my blood sings or boils
- 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