The picture glints with the summer of 2008.
Paling behind us the sky, a war waged between sea and God. It doesn’t end. It won’t.
That shirt he’s wearing, the one with the navy flags on the back. Nautica—
he knew.Persimmon juice in between my fingers as I watch him roast a whole pig, its eyes black beads
begging to be plucked and buried next to the public park.His Nikon D500 forgets where the faces are.
What is it called when you want something but cannot fathom it?
Zuì ài (love of your life). No— ròuyù (carnal desire)?
They keep asking why I stole the money from their sock drawer, all the way to
2009, where the summer is more red than green.
Baskets on the porch with unripe mangoes and river barramundi, salt from the mud sinks to
the bottom. Line-caught, he boasts—Jingjing, I’m so proud of you. Youre amazing. Love you! Dad.
I’m all hooks in lip, line-caught in the mouth. Choking on air and perfume.
The beach isn’t a place for children. One day, you’re sitting there hoarding water for a moat
made out of sand, and the next,He’s a beached whale, all the way from the inland sea. Is that meant to be the punch-
line? Caught between the optics of erosion at the base of a cliff and a church, beige as the inside of a cradle.
Neither of those things are inherently violent but when he looks at me from that angle, all I can think about is
the time I waited for him to pick me up from the train station.I sat through an entire sunset and six trains billowing smoke to learn that sometimes he
forgets.Hey you [someone is tapping on the window]. It’s a clear day.
When he asks me why I have parked here, I tell him it’s not my car.
A slip of paper that reads the date and time and one-hundred-and-ten dollars flaps around on
the windshield like a piece of loose skin.It’s been fifty-six days. The ground has picked up again.
After the wake, a lady in a frilly collar shoves a fifty into my palm; the plastic money smells
sweet.She was wailing in the back row. Tā shìgè hǎorén (He was a good person) [smiling].
Xièxiè āyí (Thank you, auntie).
Debt hangs there, a wet towel on the hills hoist swaying side-to-side.
Pray tell, Good Lord. Why does your blood taste of cherries—
and mine of cyanide. Oh! I know! I haven’t repented since 2009!
Jingjing, shàngdì ài nǐ (Jingjing, God loves you) [drowning].
He stopped taking pictures of us and started taking pictures of things far away.
Dark green pastures dotted with white cotton sheep. Sleep tight, babies. Don’t bleat for no
reason.An urn the size of a plum is somewhere in a box. Take him with you when you go overseas.
Everyone is there, in the pictures.
- 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