Journal
Articles
In America 1979
In America, I was no longer who I thought I was; one time in America, I was a white...
Americano Sal
It was always busy there in Palermo. During a snow shower I’d sit in the cafés, small corner net connections. Sometimes the weather was a little heavy – I’d kick my boots clean of ice at the entrance, umbrella heavy with sleet. The man you paid to use the internet would be singing in Farsi; a woman would speak in hushed tones in the cubicle. Sometimes not so hushed. Talking to her family on the other side of the world. Where maybe it was snowing, too. And together they could listen to each other. Together in the snow they could talk.
After three years in Australia
I take for granted going into movie theatres without checking for guns, or sitting as close to the exit as possible, assume now any...
The menaced assassin
SOPHIE STANDS IN front of the painting, flexing her toes. She pushes one heel off the ground and then...
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...
