not funny all five of us holding it in as best we can despite feeling slightly mad under the strain they’re so close we hear their near silent hum intelligent machines hunting half blind but ultra alert to life forms they consider a threat the…

chins + it’s a long time : since i’ve thought about : being 7 : if i ever did : when i was 7 : i think i just was : no thinking required : but today i gained insight : into how the boy…

tinned soup Sunday nights long ago when mum had passed out would make my own tea canned soup & toast soldiers heat soup in pan on stove lightly toast bread buttergold tomato was my favourite diluted with a little milk soldiers dunked in the mug…

stones in tonight’s house : the boy finds : a Mancala set : wordlessly demands : instruction : i teach him : it doesn’t take long : the beauty of it : & probably the reason :  it’s lasted : thousands of years : &…

Lookout Ryan wants to detour to Septimus Hill Where there’s a lookout overlooking Half the plains to the sea Been arguing about it for hours He wants to get a lie of the land Like he imagines himself a kind of General His words: foolish,…

absences Beloved brother i remember  i. spending endless hours trying to teach “I love you” in Russian: Ya lyublyu tebya without success if only I’d tried Yellow blue tibia I might’ve succeeded ii. walking round the cathedral after midnight in mist looking for the cross…

halluc:nogen  my hardback is : too heavy to hold so i half-dream : of sunflowers : knitting cheddar : cheese satchels : for their favourite gardeners : to keep seeds in there is no space : on the pavement : for my wine glass ….

old pianos when i was a girl visiting my grandparents in Tassie i came across an old piano in the forest flaking veneer like the shoulders of a sunburnt child there was an old hut nearby & i wondered if the owners had been moving…

Agent Orange all this red dust in the sky : gets in your eyes : doesn’t irritate or itch : but plays tricks : on what you know is there: but feels like it isn’t : or can’t be  for instance : that crop :…

L-plate hitch-hiker not sure what Ryan thinks he’ll do now he’s clinging — to the edge of one of those things — while it might’ve seemed an excellent idea inside his scattergun brain we never discussed — now — this moment as white metal — rises —…