When iso’s over I’m buying a coleslaw
handfuls of nectarines, vanilla pudding to keep the
lockdown woes at bay, I’m kinda worried
not rly because I’ve got the spicy cough
you know, I’m young – no underlying conditions
but my brother has spent the past week in emergency
iatrogenic—antipsychotic
blips and static
when our dad did that too many times
they told him eventually
to fuck off and he did
for good
The ambulance schedules haven’t gotten much better since then
nursing red-eye on rotation
overworked underpaid care workers, single digit sleep cycles
I watch my phone fill up with outrage
pre-programmed algorithms
performative justice
No1 can decide who we pile onto next
it’s the little things they’ll get you for on Twitter
‘her boobs titted around breastily’ @TheSmollestCat
I wish my door closed properly
from the men who came to pay a visit
to my grandmother, well she’s 83
can’t move without a walker but
no one cares much when she screams in the night
except my upstairs neighbour who rings me
in social housing people invite you for coffee
food drops, sometimes for other things too
I’m kinda worried for my mum
she’s been kicked out of houso
for punching her neighbour’s window in
when the guy next door he’s yelling
there’s a woman at this place who kinda reminds me of her
methadone gleam in her eyes, ex nurse wonder tits flyaway hair
she keyed someone’s car and she cut
nan’s umbrella tree muscling the gutters but
she has these frozen blue eyes like opal jewels wrested from brown dirt
when I’m walking down the street her eyes freeze on me
her mouth curves, childish lips, the ones that called the cops
but I just smile coz I’m chicken shit white
you never know it just might save
my arse, the scraggly hibiscus in the garden.
I might just get lucky
It’s the little things / secret daydreams
(She comes in, I say Cheryl, choke me out and she sits on my face)
In reality I’m swiping right thinking it’s left
I’ve got my face on tinder help it’s the same refrain:
Hello hello hello hello hello hello how are you?
Gotta keep it close and personal for social media
they’ll never give me a book deal –
all I’ve got are editors with avos yes AVOs not avocados
million dollar inheritances working class heroes all.
It’s a class act baby!
Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss
‘when I got this award I was living in a housing commission area’
babe why didn’t you come say hello?
We’re your neighbours, we don’t bite (hard)
but what do I expect from feminism
what good old J Gil did
on the same day she told Abbott to fuck off
was the day she cut the single parent benefit
my mother’s still living in a tent I guess it’s all a sham
sham wow
LIFE ads
make life more enticing
I guess I should’ve been more grateful for the opportunity
geriatric television screens play
tinnitus on standby
sticky mopheads buzz like flytraps,
scented candles, Ajax spray and wipe
rinse away the dust and wrinkles
blips and static
