stoppages (2008)

A closer look – cycling 'brings us closer to the landscape'. Streak of a roadkilled rainbow lorrikeet. How to get hushed.

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Sunken face. All craved out. What variety of blues.

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We don't do truth here. Look busy; act well-briefed. This fails like all double disguises.

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Continue. Despite. Recoil.

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A poem irreducible to paraphrase. A retreat, a shelter. Extracting voice from voice.

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A love of chemical. Bugs me. What is meant by 'once' in 'just this once'.

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Wake late. In bed you soft like a towel; I play apologist. ‘Define vanilla,’ you said.

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You binned old photos - friends smiling back at me, bathing in foodscraps. You were blocked, needed to purge unneeded objects. Clearing your throat.

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A fatal itch. What we seek we already have. Voice that insists, “You’ll be closer when you’ve covered all these.”

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Hard to get anything done here. Let’s get lost at home. Smear memory across tiles.