Featured in

  • Published 20250204
  • ISBN: 978-1-923213-04-3
  • Extent: 196 pp
  • Paperback, ebook. PDF

I

When I turn into a dishwasher, I can’t see, but I have a distinct sense of being. I am in the world. I am a machine. I feel the outline of me, the space I take up. My metal skin is definite, I am drawn with sharp lines; there can be no confusion about where my body ends and the world begins. I feel the empty cavern of my dish racks, the function of my body and I itch to spray from my rotating arms. A beautiful shining box. A beautiful shining box with purpose. I hum with potential. Switch. Me. On.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Lily Holloway

Lily Holloway’s work has been published in Black Warrior Review, Sundog Lit, Ōrongohau: Best New Zealand Poems, Peach Mag and Hobart After Dark, among others. Their...

More from this edition

Mudth

Non-fictionMy family has its roots in several parts of the world: the Lui branch in New Caledonia, the Mosby branch in Virginia in the US, and the Baragud branch in Mabudawan village and Old Mawatta in the Western Province of PNG. Growing up, I spent most of my childhood with my Lui family at my family home, Kantok, on Iama Island. Kantok is a name we identify with as a family – it’s not a clan, it’s a dynasty. It carries important family beliefs and values, passed down from generation to generation. At Kantok, I learnt the true value and meaning of family: love, unity, respect and togetherness. My cousins were like my brothers and sisters – we had heaps of sleepovers and would go reef fishing together, play on the beach and walk out to the saiup (mud flats). I am reminded of these words spoken by an Elder in my family: ‘Teachings blor piknini [for children] must first come from within the four corners of your house.’

Notes from a Sunshine City

GR OnlineI feel like our collective relationships with The House™ as a motif changed so much during that time; the housing crisis, lockdown and climate apocalypse were looming large all at once. Personally, I developed this kind of bizarre voyeuristic relationship with the suburbs and houses I passed on my mandated mental-health walks.

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