The Detention Centre Christmas Island With closed eyes he looked at me silently gazing brazed lips whispers and sounds firmly locked in heavy feet sitting lightly on an empty seat. I crossed the blue waves crashed, pulled me down — I saw death a thousand times and time again, death looked me in the eye. … Continue reading
A Chinese Affair – Extract I dream of my mother again. She is sitting in front of the sewing machine, crying. I press on the wooden door and it opens quietly. My father tells me to come in. He is lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, where cobwebs dangle at the corners. He murmurs, … Continue reading
Leaving is like breaking something not a single crash smash on the floor but a long drawn out rugged exhausting tearing asunder God is in the details as I pick them apart The fine bones The hush I remember that first time unbidden I heard it, as I was outside walking with my cup … Continue reading
Dark days are here. Nothing can stop them, they crowd like hair around the temples, everyone knows and now we can say, at last, it is dark. On Manus, they are walking along fine edges of themselves, under a borrowed moon, a borrowed sun. Nobody follows them, they would lead only to an end of … Continue reading
Poem and Dish 