Published in Overland Issue 247 Winter 2022 · Poetry Poetry | Our song Dave Drayton I. cull Monday CULL barb drinks burden sass MONDAY mouths burn BARBURDENODE DRINKSASSYRUPS node syrups MOUTHSHOTROPES shot nooses tropes’ suds BURNOOSESUDS gunned rope SUNGUNNEDRUM BESTIROPEPARCH sung bestir NOWISETICLEAVE drum eparch nowise iamb IAMBEINGSEEP cleave seep LOWEST GROG etic beings lowest grog cull Monday bar burden ode drinks as syrup mouths hot ropes burnoose suds sun-gunned rum best I rope parch now I set I cleave I am being seep lowest grog II. loud vacuum LOUD jows versed snores dust VACUUM famous hymn JOWSNORESUCH VERSEDUSTERROR such terror FAMOUSORNAIVER sorn nobody naiver yowe HYMNOBODYOWE towers gift BESTOWERSTAB EBBINGIFTAWDRY best ebbing PREACHASPICKET stab tawdry preach bets BETSECUREDIT picket edit BEYOND LOCK hasp secure beyond lock loud vacuum jowl snore such verse dust error famous or naiver hymn: O body owe bestowers tab ebbing if tawdry preach as picket bet secured it beyond lock III. gust system GUST sang cometh gather heat SYSTEM nearer sing SANGATHERODE COMETHEATIBIAS rode tibias NEARERAPTRUCKS rapt gallop trucks pine SINGALLOPINE hooves move ARCHOOVESONG ABLOOMOVELITES arch abloom PETALSWAYEARLY song elites petals wave WAVECHOICERE yearly cere MUSICS PACE sway echoic music’s pace gust system sang at her ode comet heat I bias nearer apt rucks sing all opine arc, hoove song abloom O velites’ petal sway early, wave choice re: music’s pace Dave Drayton Dave Drayton is a poet, writer and Overland poetry reader He is a founding member of the Atterton Academy, Kanganoulipian, and the author of E, UIO, A: a feghoot (Container), P(oe)Ms (Rabbit), A Pet Per Ably-Faced Kid (Stale Objects dePress) and Haiturograms(Stale Objects dePress). Find him on Overland and Twitter. More by Dave Drayton › 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 First published in Overland Issue 228 8 September 202312 September 2023 · Poetry Poetry | Games Heather Taylor-Johnson Days pinch and lately I’ve noticed every time I look in the mirror I’m squinting—maybe it’s a grimace. Without trying I’ve mastered the façade of a Besser block threatened by a mallet, by which I mean maybe the world won’t kill me but it’ll definitely hurt and I’ve got to be ready. First published in Overland Issue 228 31 August 20236 September 2023 · Poetry Verbing the apocalypse: Alison Croggon’s Rilke Josie/Jocelyn Suzanne ‘This again?’ and ‘why now? Why not years ago?’ are the two questions raised in each new translation of a non-English piece of Western Canon. There’s an understanding—of course a poetic cycle like the Duino Elegies is incomplete in English, there are endless new readings—and a simultaneous sense of wounded pride/suspicion: what was missing the last time around? What were you concealing from me? What are you concealing now?
