Published in Overland Issue 224 Spring 2016 Uncategorized Impulse Zoe Barnard I wanted to know, in a pause between sentences, whether the fine, transparent step between nail and skin was designed to be removed. Smoothly, the cuticle tears away, like a loose thread and blood wells after a moment, flesh overcoming the shock of being asked to undress. I wanted to know, walking home from the station, if the joints would so easily bruise and swell when my knuckles pressed against another’s body. If muscle and bone resemble walls and fences, then the pain flares and yellow meets purple in an expanding: yes. I wanted to know, when I could first drive on my own, how it would feel to journey into a power pole or through the railing along the coast. At the empty intersection, in the middle of summer, when the road is melting and sea salt cracks in the air I tell that voice, not yet. Zoe Barnard Zoë Barnard is a freelance editor and writer, who lives and works in Perth. More by Zoe Barnard 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) First published in Overland Issue 228 24 January 202325 January 2023 Aotearoa / New Zealand 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.