Jarad Bruinstroop



Birth of Astroboy

Midmorning Sunday the mall is dead. Too young to be hungover in bed we hang on the rotunda steps like temple monkeys in the sun. We chip in—score a stick, smoke up in the alley, pass the pipe from lips …

Posted in 111: BABY | Tagged

Change and Smokes

I. The one time Janis Joplin went straight, she went all the way home to Port Arthur, her parents and stenography school. No speed, no booze, no singing. Her mother sewed a wedding dress. Janis scraped her hair back into …

Posted in 110: POP | Tagged

2023 Queensland Poetry Val Vallis Award Winners

Without prior consultation, this poem rose to the top of each of our shortlists; it was unquestionably our winner.

Posted in GUNCOTTON | Tagged , , ,

Fragments on the Myth of Cy Twombly

after Achilles Mourning the Death of Patroclus (1962) There’s no myth yet about his birth, except Lexington is a military town. Later: chariots, battles. His father was a White Sox pitcher. His father was an Italian ceramicist. Drafted into the …

Posted in GUNCOTTON | Tagged

Pas de Deux for Silhouette and Swan

after Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake ‘Tchaikovsky’s his vice’ — Roland Barthes. If you’re still looking, after they’ve called last drinks and the boy has emptied the ashtrays and collected the glasses, you can see the silhouettes of infamous men slip …

Posted in 96: NO THEME IX | Tagged

Black-throated Finch

You have new notifications your connection has been reset please pay on time to avoid incurring an appointment with your therapist need to get in touch press crisis or if you prefer experience the virtual lifestyle at our integrated platform …

Posted in 95: EARTH | Tagged

I am trying to understand structure

I am trying to understand structure. I have been trying all of my life. How the edges touch the edges. Am I being too abstract again? Only detail will suffice. How the edges touch the edges. I mean concrete. I …

Posted in 87: DIFFICULT | Tagged

Legitimate Fragment

Posted in 77: EXPLODE | Tagged