Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 · Writing / Main Posts the purpling Kevin Gillam out, running to stand still, waiting for Venus – first up, letting the purpling do its work, sunshine seeping into pillow, dreams translating the warmth, slinking down, eyes along the surface, drowning in cuts of blue and silver and sunshine, bled of urgents, the purpling, keeping the words from the damp, brittle as kindling, stacked neat and ready ‘neath the galvanised tin of hope, doing the work, licking silence, drowning in horizon and soft focus, rolling meaning in the absence of a tongue, the purpling, left-hand fingers up and down the neck, mantra of memory, right hand drawing out breves for now, letting, cool torso of Salmon Gum, holding this tree, brailling its oneness, its purpling, in the park, rusted songs of swings just vacated, memories of play and flight, letting the purpling do its work Kevin Gillam Kevin Gillam is a Western Australian writer with poems published in numerous journals in Australia and overseas. More by Kevin Gillam › 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 28 March 20249 April 2024 · Main Posts Why we should value not only lived experience, but also lived expertise Sukhmani Khorana In the wake of this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I want to extend the central idea of El Gibbs’s 2022 essay on 'lived expertise' and argue that in media accounts of racism, analytical expertise and lived experience ought to be valued together and even in the same body. 5 March 2024 · Main Posts Andrew Charlton’s school assignment Alex McKinnon Australia's Pivot to India exists for three reasons: so that when Andrew Charlton is interviewed on the radio or introduced on Q+A, his bio includes the phrase "he has written a book about Indian-Australian relations"; to fend off accusations that he is another Kristina Keneally engaging in electoral colonialism in western Sydney; and to help the Albanese government strengthen economic and military ties with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.