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 D J Huppatz is a Melbourne-based writer who has had poetry published recently in VLAK 2 (2011) and Black Inc.’s The Best Australian Poems 2011. 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 24 April 2024 · History Anzac Day and the half-remembered history of the Anzacs in Palestine Bill Abrahams and Lucy Honan Schools are deliberate targets for government-funded mystification about Australia’s role in wars. Such instances of official remembrance crowd out the realities of war, and the consequences of Australia’s role in imperialism. As teachers, we should strive to resist this, and we should introduce our students to a fuller understanding of the history of the Anzacs. 22 April 2024 · Gaming Game-death in infinite game-worlds: Darkest Dungeon 2 Josie/Jocelyn Suzanne Death is the ultimate stamp of value. It was invented to sell arcade-like 1 Up repetition to the home market. To read politics in videogames is to learn to read necropolitically, which is why gamers don’t like politics.