Published in Overland Issue 206 Autumn 2012 Uncategorized california Mathew Abbott the field out there is that expanse hazed in glary tired light the field gone to yellow at the endings birds are out in it and too much with us the passing of our train indistinct to them they know in the upwash finding shapes to split the flow fields the towns have the sense of being paraded the life in them stripped back to glint the turbines turn the head anemotropic hum the skull to juice the mind the field out there meets the field of the mind at the horizontal the faked water of the heat the turbines cut Mathew Abbott Mathew Abbott lives in Queanbeyan with his wife Emilie and his dog Champion Ruby. Australian Poetry will publish his first collection, wild inaudible, in April. He maintains a blog at beetleinabox.tumblr.com, and plays in Life and Limb, a punk band named after a Fugazi song. More by Mathew Abbott 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 27 January 2023 Cartoons In attacking us, they bring us together Sam Wallman 'What these bosses don't understand is that in attacking us, they bring us together.' (Paddy Crumlin, Maritime Union of Australia, Svitzer Rally November 2022) 2 First published in Overland Issue 228 24 January 202325 January 2023 Politics The end of the politics of care Giovanni Tiso The daily spectacle of televised briefings was not unique to New Zealand, and it may simply be the case that Ardern thrived when given the opportunity to speak to the public directly—in other words, that she was better than others at it. Alternatively, we could say that her rhetoric found in the pandemic the ground on which to turn into concrete action. Either way, the benefits we derived in terms of lives saved from the remarkable extension of that social license are literally incalculable.