One. The Soldier: 6 June 2012.
Fallen into a war he cannot win
In conflict with sobriety
So long in the field his socks are filthy
Skin dry, caked in dirt and mapped in blood
He has not showered, cannot recall when he last washed
There’s much he can’t say of his battles
He must be coaxed into remembering all he wants to forget
It is the constant reverberation of explosions
Criticism bursting in his conscience
Truth exploding in showers of rage, until
Shell-shocked he admits to terror
Unable to confront the enemy face to face
At the bar damaging himself hand to hand
At war in no mans land is where he stands
Suffering combat fatigue, nodding off
In the trench of work, on the tram,
At the dinner table, exhaustion is a given
Sleep is delirium interrupted by bombardment
Constant as not thinking just slipping
Alive into nightmare battles where he wins
Only to be crushed along with his battered enemy
The soldiers’ lot does not end just because it is night
Apnoea the phantom strangler stalks the mind
Every endless eight-hour repose to wake to another day
He knows will be worse than the day now gone.
Two. The Chaplain: 6 June 2012.
He is a high priest of tales
Teller of tall stories
Indignant of non-believers
Intolerant of sceptics among his flockTears flood in the telling,
Drowning exhausted pilgrims
In the Nile River of contrition
Fake myth that it is, it worksOn the alter of alcohol
He sacrifices sobriety
In rituals of mumbled jumbo
He requires fear not beliefHe knows he too fights a war trapped
Within a doctrine of deceit and cunning
He is more sinner than sinned, for all he prays
His prayers will not fill the empty pews.
Three. The Spy: 6 June 2012.
The double agent cannot forget
His duplicity but at least
He never offers up information
It has to be dragged out
His supporters he believes
Are enemies in disguise
He lives behind his iron curtain
Letting his puppet life a free hand
After all it is only play
In a game of make believe
You make yourself believe, to be
Whoever you need to be today
To cover your real mission
To find a message in a bottle
Kidding your self
It is a skill that comes naturally
And if there are no witnesses
Who is there to deny your present identity?
Who you will betray depends
On who comes close to unveiling your deceit!
You are the spy and you must betray
Those closest who will unmask your shot eyes
Any who expose your fatty liver, swollen belly
Exposed an agent of your own demise
By the compulsion to lie under your
Disguise you pretend is the truth.
Four. M.I.A: 6 June 2012.
It is the ones who cannot get over
You not coming home
Night after night the fretting
Bloody imagination playing merry hell
Scenarios of every possible way he went
The women and children statistics
The men listed as missing in action at the pubThe real truth of his war is old news
It is hard to help, offer ground support
Widows and orphans, brothers and sisters, friends
Who know in their bones one bad moment
Is all it will take to hear the news
You have been expecting ever since his war began
He is not coming home from the front barDamaged beyond sense and cursed to live
Brain shot to pieces toasting at the tap
Liver and Heart suffocating under layers of fat
He’s home but missing in action
Missing the point wishing he were dead
And he would end his mission if he could
Think one thought through to the end.
- 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