Published in Overland Issue 213 Summer 2013 · Uncategorized Wander in &/Under Stuart Cooke I wander in her woollen hat caught like object world of legs dark eyes the city becomes feeling heels click iron bent into green I know this much I am trodden by a gull’s filthy hotel a self-conscious heart this spotted elephant click I want each and one especially your flint fried in pathetic liquid a field I want especially this cold booth a skin wrapped in skin every object sex is shackle melodic current swooning over trodden by conscious spurious motors prerogatives in tend I wander her forgotten hat I dark eyes your desire under a skirt like flakes struck from flint like leathery spine flakes Stuart Cooke Stuart Cooke’s latest chapbook, Departure into Cloud, was published by Vagabond Press in 2013. His full-length collection is Edge Music (IP, 2011). He is a lecturer in creative writing and literary studies at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. More by Stuart Cooke › 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 April 202629 April 2026 · literary culture “You are here”: a conversation about poetry and politics with Jeanine Leane Lyndall Thomas Jeanine won the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for her collection of poetry, gawimarra gathering. My conversation with her was recorded on Bunurong Country and in Naarm, in the east Kulin nations. 28 April 202628 April 2026 · History Red Hunter: inspiration from history for an eco-socialist movement Tim Briedis There is an incredible history of worker radicalism in the Hunter Valley region. Workers and communists took on governments, police, banks and bosses, unionised whole industries from scratch, and formed militant Labour Defence Armies of hundreds. While these are not specifically environmentalist actions, there is much to take inspiration from in this history of defiance and rebellion. It is a story of class struggle, collective action and combativeness.
