i.
Listen, why do you think the armed constabulary
shot all the able bodied men that evening in ‘eighty seven?A – Because the constabulary had guns
B – Because water sources have always needed blood
sacrifice of the young, they were rounded up and shot near the canal
although washing blood out of a canal is impossibleC – Because they had a truck
(and blood is a non sequitur)
ii.
Listen carefully now
They’ll call it Reinforcement of Internal Security
Or Control of Anti-National Activity
Or, more neatly, ProcedureProcedure will ring the doorbell eleven times
between three and four in the morning
yanking you out of a deep sleep dream in which an ex
wears mascara and wanders unbathed into a nice hotelProcedure will riffle through cupboards
ask you to empty out drawers and make precise lists
of contents: your grandmother’s watch,
cultured rice pearls, plans
for a house not yet builtProcedure will politely ask the cab driver to pull over
on the expressway, flashing mysterious
IDs, requesting you to come answer a few questions
without specifying whereProcedure will concern itself with proof:
papers you can furnish, phone lists to establish
whether you have journalist artist professor
friends who might make a noise if you disappeared
or were found to have confessed to something
via methods popular in the eleventh century CEProcedure will stand guard
as fire snakes through your township
documenting what becomes of solar rooftop panels,
underground sewage tanks and compost pits
under high heat circumstances before updating
the procedural manualListen to me:
Do not allow
an anxious fingertip to check how thick
the dust on your great-grandfather’s rifle
lying in safe depositReturn to the newspaper
and tomato-cucumber breakfasts
Turn to the comics page
Read your horoscope
Listen for it:When it begins, you must not insist
on calling Procedure to its face
warGather up the children likeliest
to die under the biggest tree
and surrender to them
the a-b-c’s of your languageAt noon, take the littlest ones
into your lap and chant
a rhyme about the kid
who ate almonds and walnuts
and drank soda waterConduct frog leap races
potato-spoon races
thread-the-needle races
sack races
cartwheel racesTake those of your people
who do not yet understand
to the cinemaThose who refuse to eat
outside food,
buy them cakesJuice the air for laughs
Hold your arms wide and squeeze
the breath out of their gnawed heartsNibble
Grow old overnight
Toss salty head from left shoulder to right
and run to empty swings in a park you watched
grow emptier
emptier
emptyListen for it:
Procedure (war)Now, loud, call it:
War
iii.
The town is a black hole
Dangling in neat rows
fairy lights in
glass front storeInside hang some more
in rude bunches of
white military formationThese lights are your tunnel
At the end of it
you may go blindOrange green peacock blue
mosaic shells clasp
trees in spider embrace
sucking out of your eyes
the handful of soil you were saving up
for your own graveListen
you, who have been fed your own flesh
you cannot tell pain from victualToo long you sat through meals
where the blood of your brother
set lips smacking
Too long you pursed your mouth to suck
at the wound in the infinite body
of the republicEyed by the watchful
you stoked fireYou hurried past your kul devi
and devta, giving them sweets
and yellow thread
never the heart’s blood
that is due to the godsIt is not too late
Unglue lips from the wound
and say,
I do not drinkStop sticking that knife into
God’s underarm
Say, my brother is my brother
not my mealSay, my brothers fill the hole
in my beingSay, forgive me
I did not know* * *
- 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