Published in Overland Issue 222 Autumn 2016 · Uncategorized First place: alkaway Ella OKeefe a punchline flies business class towards vague archipelagos in the deepening Pacific I find glassy petrol spots the size of 5-cent pieces refracting intervals of the day thrushy embers in mornings overturn woken by shapeless violence your body returned from sleep’s legal trip quilling into the afternoon discovering ‘the therapeutic power of water’ while wasp-shaped helicopters spotlight the oval – but when? (in violet enamel when bees were discovered) after filtering the whole house cohabited refuse goes archaeological turncoat, Georgic pink bread bag (garment) elastic calendar as in day-shaped moments between yawns time-check: pearling three o’clock clicks to night without dusk floating floor live improv set in the big suburb replica village reality effect the bodice sits over the body know this well already, cf. ‘it mimics nature to filter’ old-sponge chunks of wattle slumping on your cheek gathering a full body testimonial The Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize is supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation Ella OKeefe Ella O’keefe is a poet and researcher who lives in Melbourne. Her poems have appeared in Cordite Poetry Review, Text Journal, Steamer and Best Australian Poems. Her chapbook Rhinestone was published by Stale Objects dePress in 2015. She has made radio pieces for national and community broadcasters and is Audio Producer for Cordite Poetry Review. More by Ella OKeefe › 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 30 April 2026 · Housing Organised abandonment and Victoria’s Big Housing Build Oli Caruana-Brown and Ella McNicol The crisis is not due to a physical shortage of properties. Rather, it is a series of intentional decisions by Governments to prioritise a system of private property over peoples’ basic human need for shelter, allowing landlords and corporations to continue to hoard housing and extract wealth from tenants via rent. 29 April 202629 April 2026 · literary culture “You are here”: a conversation about poetry and politics with Jeanine Leane Lyndall Thomas Jeanine won the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for her collection of poetry, gawimarra gathering. My conversation with her was recorded on Bunurong Country and in Naarm, in the east Kulin nations.
