Published in Overland Issue Print Issue 198 Autumn 2010 · Writing / Main Posts wide open road Michael Farrell There could be anything … elongation of a spear Needling To a sphere they think, mind suffused with honey, i reach out, hes a dead man, closing the gateness behind him. We crack the nut & Go on – Theres a Ballet in the trees What a Cool Idea, the economy flows Like a creek at our feet, with a few subtle body bags we ignore. Then i realise im not wearing my red Pin or singing ‘How do you think it feels at night!’ It gives you a bad back & a youthless appearance Sleeping with people or sheep dogs When the loneliness you love is in the Eyes of someone else youre wired We came back after a decade of Drought the briar & burdock gone trialling new forms of Outdoor glass – the schools are laying eggs now Our vehicle stops We sit on our tails Some get pads out Draw a blue sky Reflectors on the inside … You touch a locust & have a vision That were Walking along a rope not A-road the koalas Yaaawnnnnnn For the money Nurses cruise through pursued by reporters on trikes. Michael Farrell Originally from Bombala, NSW, Michael Farrell is a Melbourne-based poet, with a collage practice which can be seen on instagram @limechax. Googlecholia is out now from Giramondo. More by Michael Farrell › 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 11 December 202411 December 2024 · Writing The trouble Ken Bolton’s poems make for me, specifically, at the moment Linda Marie Walker These poems doom me to my chair and table and computer. I knew it was all downhill from here, at this age, but it’s been confirmed. My mind remains town-size, hemmed in by pine plantations and kanite walls and flat swampy land and hills called “mountains”. 4 October 202418 October 2024 · Main Posts Announcing the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers 2024 longlist Editorial Team Sponsored by Trinity College at the University of Melbourne and supporters, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, established in 2014 and now in its ninth year, recognises the talent of young Indigenous writers across Australia.