At last. A whole day to myself.
Just as I pull out my chair, though
I see them there, shorn on my desk-
two sheep burst like bladders
across a floor too bloody to be
known by time & place but now & here.
IT MAKES YOU WONDER WHY THEY
CALL IT THE LIVE SHEEP TRADE.
I don't vomit, just feel like vomiting.
Those soft-boiled eggs for breakfast.
I cover the sheep with a sheet of A4
but find I can't not look at them.
When I do, I only half-see mutton
in a skein of gristle & red gravy.
It's worse than seeing or not seeing.
I fold the sheep in a manila folder &
go for a brisk walk around the block.
Cats. Two dogs, one dog-owner. No sheep.
Rounding myself up for home, I know
I'm not re-entering an abattoir
despite washing my hands in the
COLD tap's water, the HOT tap's blood.
I unfold the sheep from their folder &
impale them in red on the white wall
directly in fromt of me. Slow blood
glugs, oozes & then drips dripping.
I sit in my chair trying not to stare
at the redbacks & the red centipedes.
I want the animals to die as quickly
as this animal would want to. If
they go down in a quick fix, though
there'd be no live sheep trade &
with no live sheep trade, more farmers
would have to leave the land &
more sons of farmers have to die by
coronial enquiry. Still, if the sheep
are not to live but die by slow drip
does it matter whether or not they die
in Riyadh or at Gepps Cross? Anyway
so that two carcases can slump & stiffen
across the proverbially large desk of the
Federal Minister for the Living & the Dead
the RSPCA trusts me with a 45 cent stamp.
Not for long but for too long, I think
about soaking off the 45 cents. In blood.
Before I manage to post the postcard
the phone rings. Baa-aa-aa, baa-aa-aa.
- 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