Before the broken edges of an old city’s coast;
before the waves breaking on the wharves;
a city lost in the fog tumbling in from the ocean,
in snakes of fog sliding down from the mountains,
I’m tumbling through skins to my origins.I am tumbling and my skin’s shade is changing;
I am the television virus, my skin is brightening;
I am from the land of ether, of foamed milk;
I am the loved one, only ever the one, the one loved for being one;
I am the one writing with all my weight.A trail of footsteps across the stars;
I’ve scratched away footsteps one by one,
each step burnt a field, a mask, a dormant carbon mass;
I’m nothing but masks with eyes of furious sulphur;
I am a moon in search of a planet in search of a moon.If I was in love it was with a woman becoming a man;
if I was loved it was by a world becoming a woman.
I was never loved by the grumpy old goanna;
I was never loved by the wings of the circling goshawk;
if it was love it was a chain of grumpy old ions going senile in the galactic mirage.I have been loved, but only on occasion,
and I am loved, but only by staggered occasions;
staggering past hollowed buildings: empty teeth,
screwing them hollow for my filthy heap,
the fact is none would love me if they could see inside.As a living thing I am growing outwards, spreading;
as a living I am fattening, spreading outwards, phoning;
as a dead heart growing;
as a dead heart sprawling over tarmac
while the black skins of the bitumen places sizzle underneath.For my living I am ripping off their rhythms;
I am ripping off skins, buying the hearts of places;
I’m spreading cancer thick like a famous yeast;
this strange old city tumbling down in granules;
cancer is dancing in the memories of my metal cells.So come to me on a lonely night when I least expect it;
come to me on the one night I most deserve it;
come to me, roll to me over the lonely hakea and the singing she-oak;
look for me, come to me, hold me and learn me,
we’ll meet by the edge of this crumbling city’s dreams.For left alone I ferment into lonely flora;
I become the stench of the alcoholic plagues;
I reach out and devour the seeds of places;
I gain weight and lose it immediately in their throats,
my stinking ferment causing them atrocious choking spasms.You’re coming to me in the night furthest from my origins,
we’re walking down the most sacred, cobblestoned streets;
I’ve taken your hand and your hurtling music
and I’m rolling slowly over your bleeding tongue,
for I am the gum plague, the gases crushed in the star burning furthest from reach.
Valparaíso, Chile
- 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