Published in Overland Issue 228 Spring 2017 · Uncategorized Trial Elena Gomez silk nest hull crisp plaits a deck cuffs in flanks The magistrate speaks with circle-shaped lips. The witch remains silent but licking her palm and smoothing the left parting on her hair. The first witness: we could smell the lavender and soon the pigs emerged from the barn and could not look around them. the animals were running very fast in many directions. The witch refuses her name of earthly possession. Magistrate: why do you continue to baste yourself? Murmurs from the crowd: the promise of rejuvenation. Witch: my speech is not ready for you. Read the rest of Overland 228 If you enjoyed this poem, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four outstanding issues for a year Elena Gomez Elena Gomez is the author of Admit the Joyous Passion of Revolt (Puncher & Wattmann) and Body of Work (Cordite). She lives on unceded Wurundjeri country. More by Elena Gomez › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 22 November 202422 November 2024 · Fiction A map of underneath Madeleine Rebbechi They had been tangled together like kelp from the age of fourteen: sunburned, electric Meg and her sidekick Ruth the dreamer, up to all manner of sinister things. So said their parents; so their teachers reported when the two girls were found down at the estuary during a school excursion, whispering to something scaly wriggling in the reeds. 21 November 202421 November 2024 · Fiction Whack-a-mole Sheila Ngọc Phạm We sit in silence a few more moments as there is no need to talk further; it is the right place to end. There is more I want to know but we had revisited enough of the horror for one day. As I stood up to thank Bác Dzũng for sharing his story, I wished I could tell him how I finally understood that Father’s prophecy would never be fulfilled.
