It was JB’s birthday, everyone was there but her ex, who I most wanted to see,
half-empty crystal glasses littering the table where confident guests circled
holding the half-full, the slosh of constant conversation, gesticulations,
moles, gold, you said to me I just love tonight, it’s the best night of my life
and I adored the overstatement because I’m always on your side, I said
Mine too though it came off as eager because I’m usually unsophisticated,
wish I was ten years older or younger than I am right now.HK entered the room, the only one wearing a three-piece suit, and Lady B
was smoking cigarillos from a fancy silver flip-top case, twitching her nose
and scratching her leg – Do the streets feel like conveyor belts?
Do you miss your mother? What was the name of that album with the guy
holding the head of cabbage? – you reached into the volcano
of meatballs, flicked your wrist at the gherkins, cocked a brow
as Triple Threat scooped nuts from a bowl shaped like a penis and told us
she’d been to the sea, Just look at my tan! but she’s partial to make-up
that lightens her complexion, so yeah, when she walked away
in her red jumpsuit I thought of that giant cherry and spoon sculpture
in the city where my mother grew up; I do miss her, since you asked.You were scanning, scanning, you’re always scanning, you once told me
you viewed the world as miniature snapshots sewn together with fine thread
then projected as a silent movie, Last night I crawled into bed at seven
o’clock and slept until nine this morning, I told you I was streaming
a documentary series and you said Oh I know, it can be so hard, the music
grew too loud for me to hear what you said next but when you nodded
toward the shirtless man throwing olives in the air then catching them
one by one in his mouth, I understood completely, half-thoughts
and absinthe shots, you said I’ll start craving milk around noon tomorrow
and I said, surprising you by touching your arm, That’s a marvellous idea for a poem.
- 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