Published in Overland Issue 211 Winter 2013 · Uncategorized Natural editors Stella Rosa Mcdonald Twelve tuna, caught by a storm, split from the harbour and arrive in the Watson’s bay swimming pool. A set of twins enter with knives. They bleed and butcher as mute instructions pass between them. (One looks at the fish in the night and thinks, ‘God’s country’, the other takes a photo to prove it.) Life’s next, as they crop then render the particular order of events, make lists of attendances, debts unpaid. On scales they put street fights, car accidents, pissed hook ups, the question of who spewed in the bath and how it was exactly that a cuckoo came to land in the Moreton bay fig outside their house. They rarely think of shadows, but even dark matter might unravel if they shone a light. Two in orbit, they endlessly recall and fracture stories until legends disappear through the holes of missing parts. The world is solved as they empty out the universe of unnecessary stuff. Until all that is left and sure is an end tied neat like a surgeons knot. Stella Rosa Mcdonald Stella Rosa Mcdonald is an artist and writer based in Sydney. More by Stella Rosa Mcdonald › 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 202624 April 2026 · Friday Poetry A slam dunk publication Michael Farrell Australians said, landed among manatees, did useful, / neatnesses, knitted, pleasingly. Spared liaisons, amassed, / mortal dangers, unforeseen, nor kids, prayed aloud. 1 23 April 202623 April 2026 · The media The importance of democratic frequencies: on the threatened closure of 2SER Daz Chandler 2SER operates not just as a broadcaster, but as an incubator of democratic culture, its alumni carrying forward practices shaped by collaboration, dissent and accountability to community.