at dee’s we read dickinson
then do a sound meditation
then read her again
it puts me in my place
i needa brush my teeth
i bought greek biscuits and
kombucha in a wine bottle
labelled backyard bubblegum
sian brings geelong pinot
on the tram home my teeth hurt
dee’s friend has a well decorated
apartment hi res images he
prints at officeworks in expensive
frames— he works nights
i have work in the morning
i need to shower and rest
but i’m restless like a biscuit
dipped in chocolate then in nuts
for the taste i’m banking on the night
as usual to exist
a man on the tram says this
is us, right? i like to kiss your face
i like to ride in the night
under harsh fluorescents
i’m in a bay window in the front carriage
heat is publishing five of my
poems from brooklyn new york
to seddon melbourne— bernadette
mayer is from brooklyn
which i didn’t think of when i
was there or the other day
when she died—
i have not enough toothpaste
bought a tube at cheaper buy miles
flavour lemon myrtle
watched shawshank redemption
with melody— the prisoners found
freedom in music
passing naughtons one more
stop then walk to haines st
where i am still lucky enough
to be living
you calm me down but it’s
complicated— i’m a little
fiendish i want so badly
to be brushing my teeth and in bed
alone to think i love my phone
to type in as a treat channelling
bernadette as best i can midwinter
mid spring mid menagerie
i swig the wine in the safe neighbourhood
the school smells like flowers
do you like poetry well you like
me— suddenly ‘you’ i’m addressing,
is it? i told ‘them’ i’m
addressing ‘poetry’: o, POETRY
how are YOU going? walking alone
needing vaguely to shit and brush
my teeth shame is wasted time
i love my friends my two
strong legs the size of pictures
wall hanging pictures
i’m in a haze
haranguing myself into the picture
i too am a tree only little
only with fourteen branches
and one apparent centre
a playground passes me by
when i was a boy i wanted to
build playgrounds for a living
so that’s what i do with my life now
and i can hurt people too
and i try now to be good and real
o pavement pavarotti
doing a line of cocaine off nefertiti
o nefertiti i never knew thee
homegrown as i am an armchair
a daybed a snail a sticker on
a computer i channel a bridge
not whitmanian the moon is indifferent
a snooker team from queensland
mocks me it is almost cold i am
almost home the home of my
friends i’m sitting— the plants
are watered the carpets are vacuumed
i need coffee and dish soap i have
toothpaste and protein cookies
this is the future fourteen branches
like fourteen pub crawls are you with me
baby i see you in ohio and so
you see a car is nice to me so
is another car i’m typing writing
right into slumbering traffic
ahh be done with me
when you are done with me
- 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