Journal
Articles
The day Khet Thi was tortured to death
after Lou Reed I dreamed – I was the poet laureate of Naypyitaw, the Abode of Generals. The Generalissimo was a poet too. So...
Wildflowers
Listen to contributor Peggy Frew read her fiction ‘Wildflowers’. IT HAD TAKEN Meg a long time to convince Nina. Many lengthy phone calls....
The night sky from the surface of Mars
Well, first off, it’s not home. Your sharp intake of breath tells you that, as you clock the horizon-to-horizon stars from the...
Emily presents
MEG IS ALLOWED onto the tarmac to watch the unloading. It is a vast, empty space at this time...
Frederick the Great
When he was young, Frederick the Great tried to flee his tyrannical father By conspiring with his best friend, A young...
Reflecting light
DAYS FROM NOW, when the ship pitches so hard Jesse is woken being tossed from the bed, he’ll remember...
My mother disliked the sea
My mother disliked the sea after we arrived in Australia. She would say, ‘Four weeks on a ship. Waves. Waves. That’s all...
Walk
HE WALKED DOWN the seething streets of Fortitude Valley. It was 2.30 in the morning of a Saturday night and...
Vavan
LOOK AT THAT lamppost by the newspaper kiosk. No, not the one where the bike is locked. The other...
Pidgin
Now Pidgin didn’t say much to nobody, but he was different around his feathered friends, and also with me, coming to overlook my human bits. Plus I never poked fun at him the way others did, about the slowness, the bung eyes or walking like a string was tied from his ankle to the back of his nog – you know, pidgin-like – or being good with nothing else but bird things, which never holds much bargain for others, and they’ll want to tease and knuckle what they don’t get. Truth is I was in love with Pidgin, not that he knew – though it could have been mooch, since he was always calling me up.
Displaced
THE DELICATE RED filigree of the sea fan coral looked like alveoli in lungs, Clare thought as she kicked...
Camelopard
MOST OF THE time, I know I’m human. There’s a buttoned flap to fuss with when it’s time to eat,...
