Published in Overland Issue 233 Summer 2018 · Uncategorized Fixings of Musedom (or How to Use a Muse) Melinda Bufton I mean it to be a thing that is lank but fond like a dead feather boa no-one can remember who it belonged to originally god but you still grab it when you’re loose, and flamboyantly tear it round your shoulders with nary a thinking. Look, it’s like a plastic bucket lying around that you tip some rainwater and dead leaves from before turning it to another purpose. I dunno. A zucchini harvest or the like. Look. It’s just the same as when you go to Zara or H and M and you KNOW that the innocent polyesters died in their thousands for the pelt you now drape with hope over en-sleekened peach, the in-sucked stomach of your comely bargains. The polyesters died, and you will probably buy this little rag. But no matter. You could also just wear a bucket. No-one really knows this but if you shush down the voices of your own makeover hamlet, the Muse pops up and tells you what to wear anyway. THIS IS HER MAIN FUNCTION. Image: Buckets / flickr Read the rest of Overland 233 If you enjoyed this poem, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four outstanding issues for a year Melinda Bufton Melinda Bufton is a poet and doctoral candidate at RMIT University, researching contemporary feminist poetics. Her latest collection, Superette, was recently released by Puncher and Wattmann. More by Melinda Bufton › 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 18 December 202418 December 2024 · Nakata Brophy Prize Dawning in the rivulet of my father’s mourning Yasmin Smith My father floats words down Toonooba each morning. They arrive to me by noon. / Nothing diminishes in his unfolding, not even the currents in midwinter June. / He narrates the sky prehistorically like a cadence cutting him into deluge. 16 December 202416 December 2024 · Palestine Learning to see in the dark Alison Martin Images can represent a splice of reality from the other side of the world, mirror truths about ourselves and our collective humanity we can hardly bear to face. But we can also use them to recognise the patterns of dehumanisation that have manifested throughout history, and prevent their awful conclusions in the present. To rewrite in real time our most shameful histories before they are re-made on the world stage and in our social media feeds.
