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 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.