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
Feeling our way to utopia
Non-fictionToday, with the benefit of historical records and TV, film and radio, we don’t need to guess or suspect – we know there is a terrible price to be paid for emotions ungoverned by thought. And yet, in a spirit of blithe ignorance, we are awash, we are sodden, we are drenched in a tsunami of Rousseau-style sensibility. Today we are all about self-love, telling our truth, romancing our sins, elevating our uniqueness, and converting our passing complaints into unassailable evidence of victimhood. It’s self-asorption raised to the level of a social movement.
The window
FictionOne dinner, in the midst of playing with Seb in the reflection, Rudi laughing and squealing away, there came the distinct burst of a sob. We stopped in our tracks, looking around at each other in confusion until we located the downturned whimpering in Tim’s eyes and mouth. What is it? I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder. He turned and buried his face into my neck. What is it? I repeated. I don’t like them, he moaned, his hand pointing towards the window.
Dominion
Non-fiction GILEAD MEMES, PLUCKED from the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale, have become a reactive go-to for expressing horror and disgust at the disintegration of...
