Published in Overland Issue 201 Summer 2010 · Writing / Main Posts Aperture James Stuart Brief squalls of blue, spliced between persistent rain. Scene 4: a pair of black swans drift towards sunset, slow tilt at a finite problem – soft-lighting perhaps? But the rugby fan behind me unwraps a hotdog, wrapper branded Hans Small Goods, & the Waikato Chiefs score again. Near Bulli Pass, an isolated stag hoofs it across the freeway’s shock of headlights, edging away from Venison Weekend at the Austrian Club. Each of us holds this sensation of acceleration, approaching the drawn-out smudge which may yet be mountain range blurred against a graphite sky. Even in rewind, you look older in the makeup mirror in your hip pocket, kept for such doleful occasions. With a flick of the wrist, you interlock its circles like a lens though a quick survey of the foreground brings the distance, like a taciturn stranger, too close for comfort. Ambling along this alpine lake’s gravelly shores, petrified wood crumbles at a touch, each piece strewn into place before the crowd snaps the reverie with a gasp. The train is a cue; we shuffle into platform gaps, fingering this thought or that, licking our lips in anticipation. If there is room here – enough for everyone – invite the rugby fans, our collected friends, even the swans, who barely register our shapes from so high above, as we move into & out of focus, signposting this explicable mist. James Stuart James Stuart’s most recent projects include Conversions, an exhibition of poetry in translation (Chengdu, Suzhou and Beijing). He was a 2008 Asialink Literature Resident in Chengdu, China, supported by the Australia Council and Arts NSW. More by James Stuart › 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.