Published in Overland Issue Poetry in Lockdown · Poetry October monthly Adalya Nash Hussein my friend’s face is in a pile by the counter i compulsively reach out to touch it turn it over give her some privacy to observe that this is not what is usually meant by ‘covergirl’ is on the nose it’s beside the point the point is that i miss my friend the point is i see her everywhere later i decide i should buy a copy maybe one day i will want it i go back to the bookshop but she’s not there anymore no longer the current issue when bookshops return unsold magazines they usually just send back the covers proof that the innards weren’t sold i imagine friends’ and strangers’ hands tearing off my friend’s face i imagine her collected in an office in carlton that i once went to for a job interview it’s maybe a 15-minute walk from her home i had to proofread something about bees Read the rest of Poetry in Lockdown, edited by Toby Fitch and Melody Paloma If you enjoyed this special edition, subscribe and receive a year’s worth of print issues, the online magazine, special editions and discounted entry to our literary competitions Adalya Nash Hussein Adalya Nash Hussein is a writer and editor. Her work has appeared in Meanjin, Overland, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging and others. It has also been shortlisted for the KYD Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize and the Scribe Nonfiction Prize. She has edited for Voiceworks, Liminal, The Lifted Brow, Australian Poetry and The Victorian Writer. She studied violin at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, played with the MSO as part of their 'Share the Chair' program, and featured on Anthony Callea's Christmas album. More by Adalya Nash Hussein › 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 November 2025 · Poetry Force posture agreement Miroslav Sandev The men of Darwin have all taken their rottweilers / out for a walk at the same time. / For our protection. Like Pine Gap: / all those big white eyes that scan / the darkening horizon. / The eyes stay woke, so that we may sleep. / Or so they say. 1 22 August 202522 August 2025 · Poetry starmight K.A Ren Wyld Ending genocide and apartheid is the story. Palestinian liberation is the story. / Aboriginal rights is the story. Truth, justice, treaties and land back is the story. / Global Indigenous peoples’ solidarity and joy is the story. Kinship is the story.
