Published in Overland Issue 221 Summer 2015 · Uncategorized Noosa Beach Philip Neilsen My first dead body is when I am ten. A buzz below the shimmer tells us someone has drowned. We kids stare at him lying there on the sand. His face is powder blue like the guesthouse cups and plates laid out by aproned women at breakfast. The hairs on his chest and belly seem too coarse for an escaping spirit. More like an animal on an accidental roadside. Out in the darker water surfboards prop against the swell opportunistic, waiting. People shoo seagulls and us away. We decide because his eyes are open, trying to drink the sky. Philip Neilsen Philip Neilsen’s sixth collection of poetry Wildlife of Berlin (UWAP) was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor prize in the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards 2019. More by Philip Neilsen › 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 30 November 202330 November 2023 · Urbanism The Plains exposes the psychic terrain of Victoria’s highways Fred Pryce The Plains charts the psychic terrain of the freeway in miniature, peeling back the lid of the private vehicle to expose just one of the millions of dramas taking place in simultaneity, severed from one another yet still part of the same city-wide traffic ballet. First published in Overland Issue 228 29 November 202329 November 2023 · Housing Conflicts of classes and interests: why it’s vital for renters to organise — and tell our stories Jordie van den Berg Some of the stories that have already been shared on shitrentals.org show not only the horrible state of Australia’s housing landscape, with hundreds of images uploaded showing mould in its various stages of progression, caved-in ceilings and electrical work that could only be the product of a drunk landlord — but also the more insidious nature of the real estate industry.
