Published in Overland Issue 215 Winter 2014 · Uncategorized Desire Luke Best After Song of Solomon Desire consumes me in this, a dream: I’m flat on my back ’neath the tower of David. Spring is pregnant to Winter. The sky is a bladder, stretched and sewn at its edge. I search for clouds though there is nothing in my pockets or up my nose. Before me you take form; cloud-like. Unlike Cirrus, you are not a puny wisp, nor like Stratus; pubescent tufts of fluff. You are Cumulonimbus; a great risen plume over Mt Zion. My son is in your womb. He has not yet learnt the contours of this planetary mess nor felt the rage that is necessary to drown it. We’ll see that he does – You lower yourself to me. Your gown slips from your back like the tent curtains of Solomon. Your hair is a hessian veil. Your lips drip with myrrh. Your waters break. Luke Best Luke Best is a poet from Toowoomba, Queensland. More by Luke Best › 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 30 August 2024 · the arts The statements we make Kate Larsen As artists, cultural workers and arts organisations, ours is the business of statement-making. I was reminded of this recently by the work of Portuguese artist Tiago Casanova, whose installation Every wall is a Statement is currently part of the A liberdade e só a Liberdade exhibition (‘Freedom and only freedom’) at The Art and Culture […] 28 August 202428 August 2024 · literary culture What I learnt from reading Chinese youth agony literature Stephanie Qiu Youth agony literature swept across high schools in China from the mid-2000s to early 2010s. While boys played Dota, girls read romance. When my best friend got caught reading a popular book called Devil’s Kiss at recess, the head teacher confiscated it and called her parents in.