Published in Overland Issue 235 Winter 2019 · Uncategorized Walis tingting Ivy Alvarez take a coconut palm leaf pinnate in shape flat with a spine strip the green away and you’re left with a whip which at speed can cut skin for punishment gather the leaves then gather the spines bind with weaving through another thin thing for sweeping concrete sand and earth today it is my job to clear the threshold dirt mixed with sweat like worms in the fold of my elbow blacken under nails rime my neck I sweep and the broom says sh sh sh for ten minutes in a day I say nothing let my broom speak for me Filipino idiom meaning thin as a rod (literally, palm leaf broom) Image: Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash Read the rest of Overland 235 If you enjoyed this poem, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year Ivy Alvarez Ivy Alvarez’s collections include The Everyday English Dictionary (Paekakariki Press), Disturbance (Seren Books), and Mortal (Red Morning Press), with Diaspora, Vol. L forthcoming in 2019. Born in the Philippines, her work is widely published, anthologised and translated. She lives in New Zealand. More by Ivy Alvarez › 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 5 June 20265 June 2026 · Friday Fiction Hobo portraits: Treadly Tim & the falling star Patrick Holland We crossed the half-buried railway line and the crazy man known as Treadly Tim turned a corner around the van park on Simeon Street and came toward us on his Malvern Star bicycle. 3 June 20263 June 2026 · Reviews The past in the object: Vanessa Berry’s Calendar Courtney Powell In her latest book, Calendar, Vanessa Berry explores the relationships that are formed between people and material culture, both fleeting and sentimental, and how they can come to represent us.
