Published in Overland Issue 201 Summer 2010 · Writing / Main Posts Machine Code David Musgrave My eyes are like machine code, running lines up from the lanes and screens or avenues of trees my limbs walk down, open mouths or sideways squints which open up my mouth or make me squint. It’s one thing to think about it, another thing to live it through, when resemblances cannot be told apart from repetition. Bubbles wobble and rise from a morning dive in the pool where after several laps I tire and lose count. If comparisons were true instead of pathways, fishing lines, I’d happily shut down but it’s not the truth that wakes me up at 3 am, just its piercing semblance. David Musgrave David Musgrave is a poet, critic, novelist and publisher at Puncher & Wattmann. His latest books are Phantom Limb (John Leonard Press) and Glissando: A Melodrama (Sleepers Publishing). More by David Musgrave › 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 20 March 20262 April 2026 · Main Posts Final results of the 2025 Judith Wright Poetry Prize Editorial team Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize seeks outstanding poetry from new and emerging writers. This year’s judges, Shastra Deo, Harry Reid and […] 20 March 202620 March 2026 · Main Posts Final results of the 2025 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize Editorial team Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize seeks outstanding original short fiction of up to 3000 words themed loosely around the notion […]