Published in Overland Issue 205 Summer 2011 · Uncategorized Bite the Wax Tadpole DJ Huppatz History is the heavy. The Azure Dragon lives in a world woven by ration and romantics. It’s easiest to capture things that don’t move. Large bronze vats, for example. Weeds twist the blue-tiled roof out of proportion, lead petals drop chips on the golden paper sails. My little rose-cherry-rusty lotus bud looked counter-evolutionary in her velvet uniform and silver boots. Xinjiang restaurateurs, Henan recyclers, Anhui maids and Hebei builders, shepherded by an invisible hand, like a swarm of swallows or the melancholic object of her disappearing. In those days there was no electricity, the attendants carried lanterns of scarlet gaze. Now the city’s a radio and the Azure Dragon is broadcasting: “Bite the Wax Tadpole, The World’s Most Stimulating Bland.” DJ Huppatz DJ Huppatz lives in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Recent fiction in Variant Literature, Menacing Hedge and Fugitives and Futurists. Author of two poetry books, Happy Avatar (Puncher and Wattmann, 2015) and Astroturfing for Spring (Puncher and Wattmann, 2021). More by DJ Huppatz › 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 29 January 202529 January 2025 · Palestine The demonisation of the Palestine movement fuels anti-Muslim racism Mariam Tohamy and Miroslav Sandev The spate of anti-Muslim racist attacks around the country are being fuelled by the anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian policies of mainstream politicians. Political attempts to undermine the Palestine movement and bipartisan support for Israel’s genocide are causing this. 27 January 202527 January 2025 · Cartoons “… but fight absolutely” Sam Wallman In which Sam Wallman illustrates a stirring quote from the great Mike Davis.