The radio, for the serial, ’s propped
against a turnip to maximise reception
It’s a kind of stereo for the neighbourMy very head’s a paddock he says
checking a hedge for catching pricks
He’s been crutching poems since sixLet’s see what the surface’s doing, its
job’s to hide the depths. Turn to me
reflected image: you are noblerthan a pineapple. This fence is the fence
from my dream, the one I wrote the Queen
I sometimes see her reply wingingover the cliffs so dolce, as they say
He makes shade as the hay dies in Jersey
jaws, as trinkets spill off ferriesscoffs red cherries. If his name was Raymond
he’d be a diamond, cutting up rugs
like ice. Lyrebirds flayed his showercurtain, now he’s condemned to do
the same. He takes his kids to boxing
school so they’ll protect their lunchesfrom thieving roos. A tulip’s worth
its weight in Chinese takeaway he jokes
His bread is heavy. I’m not gaylike Tennyson he says in town
Pass the gravy. WW-
I didn’t weigh down mylip. Skip sympathy, with its rotten bags
of laundry and defunct toasters. He waves
the flag but wants to secede, to bea king of cane, to ride into glory
on a black swan with slippers of cygnet
down. Ugh! See him on hisride-on mower having
a heart attack. No, he’s just grabbing
his hat, which has flown like a bat intothe cucumber patch. Felt is a kind
of feeling. So is a hearty greeting
or memory of shaking a black man’shand while flying a kite. He’d
never felt so white as when
he saw the clouds go over, spellinghis name, forming his face, raining
on his drought-stricken self-parade
He had an orangeade spiderlater to celebrate. He went off
the juice when he turned forty-two
I want to survive my second marriagehe claimed. In order to write the novel
he explained to his mates. They were great
not like some. He always knew what theywere on about, even when
they were sketchy. The judge not
excluded. He finds a paintedegg in his dressing gown pocket
Must be Easter. Happy chocolate
he says to his indifferent ex-wifewhen she rings about the shares
portfolio. Get ex-
husband sectioned she scrawls, alongwith a camel and an upside-down
umbrella on the pad. Get
well’s all she says. She has a rabbit’sfoot in a drawer somewhere. She walks
to yoga but accepts lifts home
from instructors. She pulls out weedsin the late afternoon singing Barbra
Streisand to the wrong tune for the hell
of it. I want to dance with some-body she tells the dog in a ro-
bot voice. She has a shed
of her own and a secondhand RollsRoyce. She stares at goat videos
like she’s the wicked queen of Disney’s
Snow White. This is whatbeing out of love’s like. She writes
a sarcastic review of a rest-
aurant and a movie. The reviews arethe same with a verb or two changed
Let nouns be metaphors
she concludes. She takes off her shoesLet shoes be the blockers of the honey
of life. She squeezes them like
daffodils for their wisdom or wine
- 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