Mama is waiting for me perched on her cliff
with her black, bat-winged parasol opened
scrutinising the sky with owl spectacles,
there might be sun that sears our backs,
there could be rain dropping pellets,
she has thoughtfully dressed
in a light fabric, hewn from the temerity
of leaves from all seasons,
the young green cleave to the bodice,
weaved in with the creases and crinkles
of fallen and rested,
needled into the flow of the skirt and sleeves.These days she is so easy to carry,
her 75 years of story and lamentation
fold into the contours of my back
becoming my carapace as I stretch my neck
towards the horizon of densely designed
scaffolds and cranes holding the steel
and concrete blocks,
we scale as one species.It is only when we reach the turret
of “Yiatrina” Γιατρίνα: informal speech for female doctor
she disembarks to unveil
her ruptured, heroic body
awakened from death
by telescopic insistence,
Mama looks to me to voice her gratitude
and acceptance, as I become the myth
of the humble whisperer
‘upon settlement in strange land’.After the tick of health,
Mama would rather I climb her back
but her carapace shrunk into her spine
when she turned 51,
and we both know that my heart
was birthed for two souls.Through pathways spilling cables like entrails,
she screams in fear of our fall
until we reach the turbulent weeds near home,
where she dares her body to escape my back
and trudges the climb with nose to the ground,
as if a mushroom would sprout with a sniff,
her memory creeps and entangles
my feet to her door,
she implores me to enter
with a fig she snatched from a passing branch,
knowing I am now the eight-year-old
with the hunger for anything sweet.
- 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