202 Autumn 2011 Buy this issue The theory of Wikileaks; the art of Shaun Tan; volunteerism and neoliberalism in literary culture; and much, much more. Issue Contents Regulars On childhood Alison Croggon Features Being caught dead Justin Clemens [In]dignity Patricia Gillespie ‘Open-eyed conspiracy his time doth take’ Guy Rundle Fiction Unplugged Helen Dinmore Finders keepers Clare Strahan Simpler than that Kalinda Ashton Poetry Untitled Davide Angelo tidemark Jane Gibian I Came Home with the Shopping Jennifer Compton The Influence of Lorca in the Outback Michael Farrell the purpling Kevin Gillam Ash-brie’s Old Blue Stuart Cooke Survey John Kinsella Editorial Editorial Jeff Sparrow Poetry Prize Chorus of Crows K A Nelson Peter Minter on this year’s poems Peter Minter Browse the issue: Regulars Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Main Posts On childhood Alison Croggon ‘Some people will tell you that none of these things happened. They’ll say they were just a dream that the three of us shared. But they did happen.’ – Heaven Eyes, David Almond I have two vivid childhood memories of things that can’t be true. They both date from before I was four years old. Features Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Main Posts Being caught dead Justin Clemens Ever shall my fame increase, renewed by the praises of posterity. – Horace According to Bob Dylan, ‘death is not the end’. Although the line comes from a terrible song, there’s no better summation of the age-old gamble of art – that you can survive your own death. Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · [In]dignity Patricia Gillespie Forty years ago, Simone de Beauvoir wrote controversially about the ‘conspiracy of silence’ that afflicts old age. In her view, the old were ‘outcasts’, nursing homes were ‘houses of death’ and ageing a ‘disagreeable’ subject. Today, not much has changed – despite new technology, complex knowledge and a growing population base to consult, many elders are still viewed (and treated with) contempt. Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Main Posts ‘Open-eyed conspiracy his time doth take’ Guy Rundle ‘Are you interested in being involved with a courageous project to reform every political system on earth – and through that reform move the world to a more humane state?’ Sometime in December 2006, a former Melbourne University maths student, still hanging around the common room, posted the question to the students’ society network. His rather alarming message explained that the organisers proposed to launch their campaign in two months but were being overwhelmed by a media cascade with more than 51 000 (!) page hits on Google and stories in the Washington Post and so on. Fiction Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Unplugged Helen Dinmore What’s the story? No, really. Here we are, eating pizza, drinking Heineken, watching The Matrix. Adam with that look on his face. That look is the reason I don’t bother to talk much any more. Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Writing Finders keepers Clare Strahan Minch didn’t want Over in his head but she rattled on. Last-Night’s eyes were closed in concentration. Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Main Posts Simpler than that Kalinda Ashton I can’t drink coffee. Thomas is drinking his black, taking small swallows and then breathing out suddenly as if imbibing shots of something much stronger. Poetry Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Untitled Davide Angelo We ran as fast and far as we could without stopping for rest or water. Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Writing tidemark Jane Gibian you begin here: part of a distant beach missing its home, a doll’s saucerful Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Writing I Came Home with the Shopping Jennifer Compton And I said to him as he opened the front door – Do you remember what day it is tomorrow? Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Writing The Influence of Lorca in the Outback Michael Farrell Where they once ate camel grease (and before Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · the purpling Kevin Gillam out, running to stand still, Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Writing Ash-brie’s Old Blue Stuart Cooke stripping by the river’s old- gum language we lick the ash of brie from abysses Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Writing Survey John Kinsella It’s been too hot during the day to survey Editorial Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Main Posts Editorial Jeff Sparrow Today, injustice goes with a certain stride, The oppressors move in for ten thousand years. Force sounds certain: it will stay the way it is. No voice resounds except the voice of the rulers And on the markets, exploitation says it out loud: I am only just beginning. But of the oppressed, many now say: […] Poetry Prize Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Chorus of Crows K A Nelson When she saw Top Camp (humpies made of corrugated iron/slabs of bark people and dogs living together Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Main Posts Peter Minter on this year’s poems Peter Minter What is the use of poetry? One of its most crucial and historically valued functions has been the revitalisation of language, the renovation, at times even the resuscitation, of the imagination’s linguistic engagement with the social and material cosmos. Previous Issue 201 Summer 2010 Next Issue 203 Winter 2011