An island
that periodically
disappears off maps
sometimes
there, sometimes not
at the edge of consciousness
at the end of
space
at the centre
of an empty black playground
dancing in a circle
in the laughter of boys
picking
sticky asphalt from oozing wounds
a carrot for the nose, two buttons for the eyes
street puddles with a brittle pane of
ice
breathing in
deep
inhaling snow
‘We stood
in the midst of chaos and terror’
Chu Teh,
North Kiangsi province
18th July, ie
mid-1927
Having lost
almost everybody
and everything
mourners at
funerals
could themselves be killed the
following day
to
look behind them was too much
so they
picked up everything, and left
accepted the provisional nature of
things
employed
harsh measures
our country
was vast
we could get lost
and reappear
a decade later
resolute and
hard
great slogans
were echoing in our heads
as we
shouldered our belongings
and walked off
unable to
forget that glimpse
of Red
Guards, defiant words
& before, China in the 30s
(through a megaphone, a rush of words)
austere,
taciturn, puritanical politics
too hard now,
and too remote
waiting
in a carpark
I wandered
amongst the immense arrows
after Herbert Chitepo's visit, that was
late 1973
(heard later,
much after the event
he'd died in Zambia
from a car bomb
and we'd
fancied ourselves his bodyguards here)
‘the union
fought the battle of freedom
freedom
freedom
the union
fought the battle of freedom
and the walls
came tumbling down’
walls
toppled
and we saw
our hope
instruct us
and destroy
us
when
resurrection rotted in the earth
Sitting on twigs
The wind blew and blew. A big dustcloud
came up from the West and swept the camp. Everyone sat around, doing nothing
under a creaking old paperbark tree. Coorong, December 1978
Coming back
to these stones
this stretch of desert
when the soil
rotted
and the stones bore stones
at the end of
the world
at the very
edge of the known world
ignoring history
in a land of
little
a landscape that stops at nothing
traversing a
flat plain between cities
birds flicker
across the flat water
like beads of run-away mercury
sitting on
twigs
in the flat lands
in a piece of
country loaded with meaning
like a tightly coiled spring
No sign of human life
That night we
stopped in a valley
where there was no sign of human life
misunderstanding
a language, unheard before
in an unnamed land on the roof of the
world
kept apart by
time and space
drinking
chicken blood in watery bowls
to ensure
safe passage
and allegiances
of both
belief and convenience
words after
words
slicing like a knife
The end of time
Some had
broken with drugs
old habits which had settled in
somewhere way back
along our
past
where before
the clock on the wall
the clicking of fingers keeping time
the beat of
the passing of days
ran familiar and expected
until awake
and restless, what once applied
broken up
no longer
making much sense
time sizzles like a barbecue
in
rediscovering my future
I rediscover my past
travel
backwards to travel forwards
like a mathematical solution
the edges, pushed
to limits, reappear
in unexpected ways
from
directions not yet guessed at
starting now
© Stephen
Cassidy, 1992
For more information about the author see Writing biography.
See also
State of origin
Multimedia piece developed with visual artist, Deborah Faeyrglenn, State of origin looked at where we come from, where we go next and where we truly belong. In this work the writer and visual artist combined word, image and computer technology to make visual music. Words and images moved across the computer screen, with no fixed address, State of origin.
The lost art of conversation
Installation, developed with visual artist, Deborah Faeyrglenn, on words, meaning, reflection and infinite (or at least, partial) regression. Three tall thin vertical mirrors stand against the wall, covered in bursts of words. Three matching paper shadows flow out from the wall along the floor. Words on the mirrors flutter and blur into shadows, The lost art of conversation.
balloon
A fictional narrative work in the form of a website, the website as writing. About the adventures of a refugee from the big city who sets up the High Country Thought Balloon Company. A series of brief vignettes about the characters, situations and stories which intersect the path of the balloons as they soar across the skies of the Southern Tablelands and Snowy region. It is about changing perspective, balloon.
Malacoota Inlet
‘Shutdown in a flat, wet land, the line beween sea and sky where grey meets grey, where stricken yachts come in’, Malacoota Inlet.
Sitting on twigs
‘Sitting on twigs in the flat lands, in a piece of country loaded with meaning, like a tightly coiled spring’, Sitting on twigs.
Signature of water
A series of artworks as part of the Waterworks exhibition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery responding to the shared task of facing up to life on our dry continent. It ranged from short, minimalist animations, using cartoons, to hyperfiction drawing on the styles of crime novels. It was a mix of poetry, storytelling, images and sounds which were heavily influenced by the styles of popular culture and the urban and rural landscapes around us, Signature of water.
For more information about the author see Writing biography.
See also
I smoke baby cigars
‘Smoking baby cigars in the dark of the backyard. Like some Cuban presidente haranguing the crowd with reminders, I proffer a list of romantic anniversaries, our May 4th movement, our July 12th uprising – our moment when everything became new’, I smoke baby cigars.
Cut back to black
‘Cut back to black, thin chill drizzle mid-winter – infinite regression on petrol’. Also called ‘Revhead heaven’, Cut back to black.
Coming back to these stones
‘Coming back to these stones – in the sandy dry reaches of the Coorong in South Australia’s South East birds flicker across the flat water like beads of run-away mercury’, Coming back to these stones.
Landscapes in a rear vision mirror
‘Heading at a moment's notice into Broken Hill, breaking several traffic laws on the Barrier Highway, in the rear vision mirror the land kept switching colours’, Landscapes in a rear vision mirror.
Stopping by Lake George
‘Lake George is a vast stretching freshwater lake, with no outlet. It is only diminished by evaporation. Many stories are told about Lake George, a still point of the turning earth, with all the quiet of the eye at the centre of a hurricane’, Stopping by Lake George.See other work from the Conversations group exhibition, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, 2004 – a collaborative exhibition of writers and visual artists.‘Smoking baby cigars in the dark of the backyard. Like some Cuban presidente haranguing the crowd with reminders, I proffer a list of romantic anniversaries, our May 4th movement, our July 12th uprising – our moment when everything became new’, I smoke baby cigars.
Cut back to black
‘Cut back to black, thin chill drizzle mid-winter – infinite regression on petrol’. Also called ‘Revhead heaven’, Cut back to black.
Coming back to these stones
‘Coming back to these stones – in the sandy dry reaches of the Coorong in South Australia’s South East birds flicker across the flat water like beads of run-away mercury’, Coming back to these stones.
Landscapes in a rear vision mirror
‘Heading at a moment's notice into Broken Hill, breaking several traffic laws on the Barrier Highway, in the rear vision mirror the land kept switching colours’, Landscapes in a rear vision mirror.
Stopping by Lake George
State of origin
Multimedia piece developed with visual artist, Deborah Faeyrglenn, State of origin looked at where we come from, where we go next and where we truly belong. In this work the writer and visual artist combined word, image and computer technology to make visual music. Words and images moved across the computer screen, with no fixed address, State of origin.
The lost art of conversation
Installation, developed with visual artist, Deborah Faeyrglenn, on words, meaning, reflection and infinite (or at least, partial) regression. Three tall thin vertical mirrors stand against the wall, covered in bursts of words. Three matching paper shadows flow out from the wall along the floor. Words on the mirrors flutter and blur into shadows, The lost art of conversation.
balloon
A fictional narrative work in the form of a website, the website as writing. About the adventures of a refugee from the big city who sets up the High Country Thought Balloon Company. A series of brief vignettes about the characters, situations and stories which intersect the path of the balloons as they soar across the skies of the Southern Tablelands and Snowy region. It is about changing perspective, balloon.
Malacoota Inlet
‘Shutdown in a flat, wet land, the line beween sea and sky where grey meets grey, where stricken yachts come in’, Malacoota Inlet.
Sitting on twigs
‘Sitting on twigs in the flat lands, in a piece of country loaded with meaning, like a tightly coiled spring’, Sitting on twigs.
Signature of water
A series of artworks as part of the Waterworks exhibition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery responding to the shared task of facing up to life on our dry continent. It ranged from short, minimalist animations, using cartoons, to hyperfiction drawing on the styles of crime novels. It was a mix of poetry, storytelling, images and sounds which were heavily influenced by the styles of popular culture and the urban and rural landscapes around us, Signature of water.
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