Published in Overland Issue Print Issue 198 Autumn 2010 · Writing / Main Posts Disquisition on Home Ryan Scott A fly kindly punctuates the table cloth before moving to remedy the syntax of a wall, a banana, a door knob … my lip. And the sun is more presence than detail. Unlike, say, the dark which remains a tease and knows its place. Light here invades lines. Colour has no room. My hands confuse themselves with the sand but not the trees; too dry to weep, they can only wait. A magpie gargles the air. That bird is the one fear from childhood I keep for comfort. Still, it’s more intelligent than most creatures. Pollsters should ask for its opinion, while grammarians should study where that fly lands, see if it finds words for its pedantic self. You and I would argue over the significance of each position. Sorry, you’d say, ‘You and I’. Maybe, we should take this inside. Ryan Scott Ryan Scott lives in the Czech Republic. His poems have appeared in a number of journals and websites in Australia and overseas. More by Ryan Scott › 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 202315 September 2023 · Main Posts Announcing the 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize ($6500) Editorial Team Supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, and named after the late Neilma Gantner, this prize seeks excellent short fiction of up to 3000 words themed around the notion of ‘travel’; imaginative, creative and literary interpretations are strongly encouraged. This competition is open to all writers, nationally and internationally, at any stage of their writing career. First published in Overland Issue 228 8 September 202326 September 2023 · Main Posts Announcing the 2023 Judith Wright Poetry Prize ($9000) Editorial Team Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets seeks poetry by writers who have published no more than one collection of poems under their own name (that is writers who’ve had zero collections published, or one solo collection published). It remains one of the richest prizes for emerging poets, and is open to poets anywhere in the world. In 2023, the major prize is $6000, with a second prize of $2000 and a third prize of $1000. All three winners will be published in Overland.
