Featured in

  • Published 20241105
  • ISBN: 978-1-923213-01-2
  • Extent: 196 pp
  • Paperback, ebook, PDF

Though he lives in a rundown unit

above a busy intersection,

the pyjama man

imagines that the sounds of the traffic

are the waves of the ocean.

It is not automobiles

that are passing by his window;

it is the crashing of waves into the shore.

He finds the sound of the ocean therapeutic

and becomes a man of peace.

His friends tell him it is the traffic,

the relentless sound of the traffic,

that has driven him mad,

that has caused this fantasy.

Their negativity

makes him even more determined

to believe the delusion.

Share article

About the author

Damian Balassone

Damian Balassone’s writing has appeared in a variety of Australian and international publications, including The New York Times, The Australian, Light, Abridged, The Spectator,...

More from this edition

upstart crowe

Poetry I was reading Shakespeare on my phone & then this rose started blooming   in front of me   as if embarrassed  I’m calling collect –...

Girls to the front

Non-fictionIf there are no women in leadership in a synagogue, many of us don’t bother to come. Or if we do come, we know there’s no real point joining a board or committee – our opinions count for less. And this means that Orthodox Judaism risks losing a new generation of Orthodox women – women like me, who would never accept equivalent lack of opportunity and education in our professional and personal lives.

Palio De Siena

Poetry In the Tuscan city of Siena for seven hundred years  this annual race has run to settle rivalries between citizens of its seventeen contradas,municipal divides of  this medieval city...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.